Egypt hands over pirates
2009-09-14 13:55
Mogadishu - Egypt on Monday handed over to Somalia's Puntland authorities eight suspected pirates who had seized two Egyptian fishing vessels before being overpowered by the crew, officials said.
"We have received the eight pirates from Egyptian officials. They are now in the hands of the police for questioning and will be awaiting trial," the governor of Puntland's Bari region, Muse Gele Farole, said.
The eight suspects were handed over in the Gulf of Aden port of Bosasso, the economic capital of northern Somalia's semi-autonomous region.
A senior Puntland police official confirmed that the eight were held in a Bosasso jail.
Refrigerated holds
Puntland has already sentenced dozens of pirates detained by foreign navies in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden to heavy jail terms.
The FV Momtaz 1 and FV Samara vessels got a heroes' welcome in Egypt last month following reports that the crews managed to disarm the pirates. They made their way back up the Red Sea with the eight locked up in refrigerated holds.
The two ships were allegedly stopped on April 10 for illegal fishing and were held off the small coastal town of Las Qoray, which straddles a disputed border between the two northern breakaway states of Somaliland and Puntland.
The local authorities' failure to take appropriate action on a case of illegal fishing gradually turned the captivity of the two vessels into a case of piracy.
- SAPA