Counter-piracy Operation Atalanta: ITS Fasan captures suspected pirates

21 November 2017 12.00

Yesterday, ITS Virginio Fasan - engaged in Operation Atalanta – chased and apprehended a group of six suspect pirates, all of them Somali, who, using a motor whaler and a skiff, had tried to attack a Panamanian container ship and a fishing boat flying the flag of the Seychelles Islands. These events reportedly took place between 17 and 19 November in the Indian Ocean, approximately 320 nautical miles off the Somali coast, near Mogadishu.

Besides the Italian frigate, with its SH-90 helicopter and a San Marco Marine Brigade team, a Spanish maritime patrol aircraft (MPRA), also engaged in EU Operation Atalanta, has taken part in the operation.

ITS Fasan was patrolling about 60 nautical miles off the Somali coast when she received the alert of an attempted attack against a container ship. The frigate then headed towards the scene, while the Spanish aircraft was ordered to fly over the same stretch of sea in order to search the area. The same aircraft received information that a fishing vessel had also been attacked by a group of armed pirates.

ITS Fasan's helicopter succeeded in locating and identifying two small vessels in a position consistent with that of the attacks.

At the end of the inspection of the ships' cargo, the suspected pirates were identified and apprehended, then detained onboard the frigate Virginio Fasan. A legal process has now begun for them to be transferred to the appropriate authority for prosecution under international agreements signed by the European Union and the coastal States which are most committed to counter-piracy.

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