The Indian Ocean is a slightly safer place today after a gang of gormless Somali pirates were arrested when they accidentally attacked a French warship, the frigate Le Nivose, after mistaking it for a merchant vessel.
The pirates were traveling in three boats, two small skiffs and a nine metre ‘mother ship’. The gang was armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles, a grenade launcher and five grenades. They pursued the French naval vessel after failing to recognise it as such after the captain of the frigate, Lieutenant Commander Jean-Marc le Quilliec, decided to head towards the sun to camouflage the ship’s identity.
As the pirates approached they were astonished to see the ‘merchant vessel’ launch an attack helicopter and two assault dinghies full of highly trained and heavily armed French commandos. The pirates immediately surrendered after the helicopter fired a volley of warning shots.Â
The 11 pirates, some of whom are believed to be very young, were arrested, searched and taken aboard the Nivose, a French spokesman said. It is unclear what is going to happen to them.
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The Nivose is part of the European Union anti-piracy mission Atalanta. It has had mixed results thus far due to the pirates venturing further and further into the Indian Ocean to launch their attacks on merchant vessels and leisure craft.
The biggest scalp the Somali pirates have taken thus far is the VLCC MV Siruis Star belonging to a subsidiary of the Saudi Arabian state-owned energy giant Saudi Aramco. The ship was hijacked in November 2008 and eventually released in January after a ransom, believed to be in the region of US$3 million was paid.
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