Six Somali pirates under investigation

ADEN, Dec. 28 (Saba) - Penal Prosecution in Aden has begun investigations with six Somali pirates on charges of pricy and
attempt to kidnap a Yemeni boat.

Judicial source told the state-run 26sep.net that the Prosecution has received
files of seven Somalis accused of piracy, one of them is still at large.
The sources pointed out that the Yemeni coastguards had been arrested the Somali
pirates off Ras al-Ara coast, along with 3 RPGs and four gun machines.
Last November, Yemen has arrested six Somali pirates on a boat off Aden.
The Interior ministry has said the items seized with the Africans included machine
guns, RPGs and other missiles with ammunition.
In October, nine Somali pirates were caught off Yemen's western province of Taiz
with weapons.
Early in October, 12 Somalis appeared in court in Yemen facing piracy charges.
The Somalis were seized in February when marine troops recovered a Yemeni oil
tanker earlier seized in the pirate-plagued Gulf of Aden.
In addition to piracy and human trafficking they have admitted, they also faced
charges related to the murder of one of the tanker's crew members and causing
another to
go missing as well as forcible robbery.
Three pirates were killed in the release operation and 12 others arrested.
In recent years, piracy has soared off Somalia sparking regional and international
concerns over threats to one of the world's busiest waterways where about 20.000
vessels
pass a year.
In response, many countries dispatched anti-pirate missions into the region, which
are now patrolling the Arabian and Red Seas.
MB/AF