British Navy captures Indian Ocean pirates

“The Royal Navy has once again struck a blow to Somali piracy operating in the Indian Ocean,” he said.

On Monday the supply ship, patrolling about 420 nautical miles from the Seychelles, received information that a Spanish fishing vessel had come under attack from a group of pirate vessels.

“The ship’s Lynx helicopter was quickly despatched to investigate,” the spokesman said.

“Once at the scene, the helicopter identified two suspect vessels, a whaler and a skiff, in the vicinity of the fishing vessel.

“The faster of the two, a skiff, sped away at over 25 knots as the helicopter gave chase.

“When the skiff ignored orders to stop, a specially trained sniper on board the Lynx helicopter fired warning shots ahead of the fleeing vessel which stopped and the suspected pirates on board were then taken to Fort Victoria via boat.

“Fort Victoria’s Royal Marines boarding team then boarded the whaler and another skiff in the vicinity. As a result of the day’s action, a total of seven suspected pirates were held on board Fort Victoria along with their whaler as evidence, with no injuries being sustained by either side.”

Permission was given to take the suspected pirates to the Seychelles for prosecution, the spokesman said.

“With Seychelles authority granted, this will be the first case to be heard there under a memorandum of understanding signed between the UK and Seychelles governments in July 2009.”