Australian navy stops Somali pirates

An Australian naval vessel has stopped a boatload of pirates believed to have been
plotting attacks on merchant ships off the east coast of Africa.
The HMAS Parramatta was patrolling a shipping lane in the Gulf of Aden, off Somalia,
on May 25 when it intercepted a skiff carrying a group of suspected pirates.
The area is well known for attacks by Somali pirates, defence officials said.
When first sighted, the suspected pirates were throwing items overboard, including
some weapons.
"Given their location and that their behaviour was typical of pirates in this
region, it appeared that they were loitering with the intent to carry out an
attack," Parramatta's operating officer Lieutenant Tony Nagle said in a statement on
Friday.
Australian crew boarded the boat, but found no additional weapons.
They seized any items that could have been used in a piracy attack, and then left
the vessel with enough supplies to make its way safely back to Somalia.
The Parramatta is on anti-piracy deployment in the Middle East until September.