Global General

Indian navy arrest 52 Somali pirates

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-02-06 15:45

NEW DELHI - The Indian Navy and Coast Guard captured a mother ship of Somali pirates off Lakshadweep islands at the Arabian Sea Sunday morning, arresting 52 pirates, said highly placed sources.

Naval warship INS Teer and Coast Guard ship CGS Samar intercepted the pirate's mother ship within the Indian exclusive economic zone and engaged it in a gun battle, said the sources.

Following the offensive, the pirates gave up and waved a white flag, indicating that they wanted to surrender. Some of them also jumped overboard the mother ship, which was identified by a navy spokesperson as Thai fishing trawler Prantalay-11.

This mother ship is a sister vessel of another fishing trawler, Prantalay-14, that was sunk by the navy about 10 days ago in the Arabian Sea while it was being used as a mother ship.