The hijacking of the Ruen was the first successful seizure of a ship involving Somali pirates since 2017
The Indian naval forces captured a cargo ship that had been hijacked by Somali pirates and rescued 17 crew members, a Navy spokesperson reported on Saturday.
In a post on the social network X, the Navy informed that the 35 pirates aboard the ship, the Maltese-flagged Ruen, had surrendered and that the presence of illegal weapons, ammunition, and contraband on the ship had been confirmed.
The Ruen had been hijacked last year. The Navy stated that they had intercepted the ship on Friday.
According to the European Union naval force, the ship could have served as a base for the hijacking of a Bangladeshi-flagged cargo ship off the coast of Somalia earlier this week.
The hijacking of the Ruen was the first successful seizure of a ship involving Somali pirates since 2017 when an international offensive halted a spree of hijackings in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
Somali pirates had caused chaos in major global waterways for a decade but had remained inactive until the resurgence of attacks late last year.
