PIRATES who have been menacing European and other fishing boats in the Indian Ocean suffered a major setback yesterday.
The French Navy captured 35 pirate suspects off the Somali Coast hailing it as the most successful EU mission since operations began two years ago.
French officials said four mother ships and six smaller boats which had been stalking fishing vessels had been seized in four operations since last Friday. The EU launched its anti-piracy mission in December 2008, but the pirates have since attacked ships in a wider area.
But recently, the attackers have struck hundreds of miles further south - near the Seychelles and even as far afield as Madagascar where the fishing fleets are working.. The defence ministry said the frigate Nivose was backed by an Italian vessel and Spanish aircraft during its three-day mission. It is not yet clear what France intends to do with the suspects.
However, in a separate incident, Somali pirates released a large trawler with 23 Russian fishermen on board which had been seized last October after a ransom was paid, the European Union's anti-piracy mission said.The Russian news agency Itar-Tass said the owners of the vessel, the Thai Union-3, paid "a significant" sum for its release. A spokesman for the owners said the vessel was now on its way to the Seychelles, accompanied by a Russian warship. All the crew were in good health, he added. The spokesman declined to confirm that a ransom of three million dollars was paid.
In November the Spanish trawler Alakrana and her 36-strong crew were freed after being held by Somali pirates for seven weeks amid reports that a ransom of 2.3 million euros was handed over.
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