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