Japan to arrest pirates in Indian Ocean tanker attack

TOKYO, March 10 Kyodo - The Japan Coast Guard is set to arrest as early as Friday the four pirates who were captured by the U.S. military after they attacked a tanker operated by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. off the coast of Oman in the Indian Ocean, Japanese government sources said.
The coast guard plans to arrest them on suspicion of violating the antipiracy law once the four are handed over from a U.S. warship to a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer currently in the area.
The U.S. warship, which is on duty, and the JMSF destroyer are making arrangements on the site of transfer of the pirates. Following the handover, they are likely to be flown to Japan, the sources said.
On Tuesday night, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office dispatched a total of seven prosecutors, interpreters and clerks to Oman. The Japanese prosecutors are interviewing the 24 crew members of the tanker.
It would be the first transfer of pirates to Japan since the creation of the country's antipiracy law in 2009, and legal experts are watching closely how Tokyo will deal with the captured pirates as there are no widely recognized international rules on handling them.
Under the antipiracy law, which took effect in July 2009, acts of piracy that involve commandeering a vessel in Japanese territorial waters or on the high seas are punishable by five years to life in prison. If indicted, the four pirates may be subject to a lay judge trial.
The Bahamian-registered 57,462-ton Guanabara was transporting fuel oil from Ukraine to China when it was approached by a small boat Saturday. The four pirates on the craft boarded the tanker, but none of the 24 crew members, all non-Japanese, was hurt.
The tanker issued a distress signal before the U.S. military came and detained the pirates.