INS Kolkata carrying 35 Somali pirates reaches Mumbai, hands them over to police

Under this operation, The Indian Navy deploys ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea for the safety of mercantile trade and seafarers passing through various regions.

The Indian Navy commenced the operation that lasted over 40 hours in the early hours of March 15, wherein INS Kolkata intercepted Pirate Ship ex-MV Ruen in the Arabian Sea after receiving inputs from the Indian Navy's Information Fusion Centre -Indian Ocean Region from UKMTO (the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations).

According to a statement, the ship was being used as a 'Mother Ship' to undertake piracy attacks and hijacking of merchantmen.

Indian Navy's warship INS Kolkata started shadowing the Pirate Ship on March 15.

The ship, upon sighting INS Kolkata, reversed course and later started heading towards the Somali Coast. During the operation, the Navy found several armed pirates on the upper deck of the ship.

INS Kolkata soon directed the pirate ship to stop for further investigation under International Law, especially the United Nations Conventions on the Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS). However, the pirate ship refused to comply with the order and instead opened fire on officials.

Thereafter, Navy's INS Kolkata acted in self-defence and "used kinetic measures required to disable the ship and compel the pirates to surrender," the statement said.

Later, INS Kolkata was joined by INS Subhadra in the operation.

The Indian Navy undertook long-range deployment and paradrop of Marine Commandos over the sea in the vicinity of the pirate ship using C17s in close coordination with the Indian Air Force (IAF), PTI reported.

During the operation, aerial surveillance was undertaken by the Navy's P8I aircraft, Sea Guardian UAV, and the ship's integral helicopters along with the help of spotter drones.

"In the face of decisive action by the Indian Navy, all pirates onboard surrendered," the Navy said, adding that 35 pirates and 17 crew members were duly taken into custody and later shifted to Indian Naval ships.

This was followed by a search operation on the pirate ship wherein the Navy sanitised the ship for arms, ammunition and contraband, rendering it safe.