Somali pirates have seized a vessel laden with arms being shipped to Somalia, in an incident likely to reawaken concerns about links between pirate gangs and factions in the country’s long-running civil conflicts.
The seizure of the arms ship comes alongside the latest evidence of Somali pirates’ increasing ability to strike far off shore.
In the latter incident, the BW Lion, operated by Singapore-based BW Maritime, one of the world’s largest crude oil carrier operators, was attacked 1,000 nautical miles off the Somali coast, according to the European Union.
The vessel successfully evaded capture, the EU’s maritime security centre for the Horn of Africa said, but the attack is the furthest ever by Somali pirates from their coast.
Pirate attacks have become more regular in recent weeks, thanks to improved weather following the end of the Indian Ocean monsoon.
Andrew Mwangura, of the East African Sailors’ Assistance programme, said the arms ship appeared to have been seized on Sunday and was being held near Garacad, in northern Somalia. It had carried the name Al Mizan but that was not necessarily the ship’s real name.
“It seems as if she is sailing under a fake name,” he said.
The arms on board were mainly light weapons, Mr Mwangura added.
“What they told us is it’s light weapons and RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades],” he said.
The European Union centre could not immediately confirm the arms vessel’s seizure but, if it is confirmed, the incident could lead to a stand-off similar to that which surrounded the Ukrainian-owned Faina. The Faina, laden with second-hand tanks and other equipment heading from Ukraine to east Africa, became one of the highest-profile cases of Somali piracy after it was seized in September last year by pirates. The US Navy shadowed the vessel until it was released in February this year, to ensure none of the weapons could be unloaded.
Several reports have suggested the Al Mizan could have been smuggling weapons to Somalia in breach of international arms embargoes. However, Mr Mwangura said little about the case was clear.
“I don’t know where she was coming from or where she was going,” he said.
