India neutralizes three pirate boats in four days

New Delhi : Indian Naval Ship Delhi successfully neutralised another pirate boat, the third in four days, while on an anti piracy mission to escort Merchant Vessels in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday.

Deployed in the Gulf of Aden since mid July 2010, INS Delhi was escorting 6 merchant vessels with a cumulative strength of 40 Indians amongst the 147 crew on board the six ships, said an official statement issued here on Thursday.

At about 1000h on Wednesday in a position 108km South of the Yemeni Coast, in the IRTC (International Recommended Transit Corridor), a dhow was detected approaching the formation. The dhow was intercepted and boarded by a team of Marine Commandos.

A cache of arms including a 7.62 mm rifle, 06 Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs) and ammunition was found on board the dhow. The dhow was disarmed. The team from INS Delhi had thus successfully mitigated piracy threats in the Gulf of Aden.

It is indeed notable that this was the fourth such action, taken by INS Delhi, three being in the last four days. It maybe recalled that INS Delhi had, earlier, similarly disarmed boats on Sept 5, 12, and 13.

Since the Indian Navy started its anti-piracy operations in Oct 2008 this is the 18th piracy attack that has been prevented.