Fears that pirates are returning to seas off Somalia
This recent upswing in pirate activity has raised further concerns about marine security and shipping.
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This recent upswing in pirate activity has raised further concerns about marine security and shipping.
The daring attack in December bore unsettling hallmarks of the piracy that once terrorised global shipping off eastern Africa: a cargo vessel hijacked, its crew taken to Somalia, and disappeared.
The UK Marine Trade Operations, which monitors piracy, recorded six incidents off Somalia's coast since mid-December, from approaches by crews armed with machine guns and rocket launchers, to successful hijackings.
The daring attack in December bore unsettling hallmarks of the piracy that once terrorised global shipping off eastern Africa: a cargo vessel hijacked, its crew taken to Somalia, and disappeared.The overall number of piracy attacks has fallen sharply from a 2011 peak, when internal chaos in Somalia, and the absence of a coast guard, allowed pirates to hijack commercial ships and hold crews to ransom.
A boarded ship, taken with its crew to Somalia News