BRITISH SHIP RELEASES YEMENI BOAT

ADEN, Oct. 16 (Saba) - A British naval ship belonging to the international anti-piracy mission has released a Yemeni boat that was earlier seized by Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea.
15 people, 8 Yemeni fishermen and 7 armed pirates, were onboard when the British ship released the boat, a day after it left Mukalla port in southern Yemen en route for Somalia.
The crew of the boat told the British troops that they were going to sell 35 barrels of trafficked petrol and fish.
The armed Somali pirates tied our boat to their boat and forced us to go with them, they told the Britons.
After interrogating the fishermen, the troops confiscated the weapons of the pirates, putting the pirates on their boat and ordering them to head to their state.
While the Yemeni fishermen were ordered to head to Yemen coast, with the troops alerting the National Coast Guard about the incident.
In late September a South Korean warship released five Yemeni fishermen, five days after Somali pirates seized their boat in the pirate-plagued Gulf of Aden.
The ship intercepted the boat off Somalia's coast, near the Calola area, while Somali pirates were using it to carry out attacks against merchant vessels.
Investigations with the Somali pirates revealed they captured the Yemeni boat, so-called Monfiq, on September 17 to use it for attacking ships passing in the region.
The crew of the ship put the pirates on their small boat and ordered them to go towards the Somali coast while the Yemeni fishermen headed to the Mukalla port in southern Yemen.
In recent years, piracy has soared off Somalia, with the pirates stepping up their attacks, threatening one of the world's busiest waterways where about 20.000 vessels pass a year.
In 2008, pirates carried out attacks against more than 140 ships, out of which almost 40 vessels were already hijacked with their crews.
In 2009, a number of attacks took place, with pirates seizing some ships with their crews. Somali pirates used to demand ransoms for releasing what they hijack, mostly millions of dollars.
In response to the soaring phenomenon, many countries and world unions sent anti-piracy missions to the region.
FR