Navy transfers 35 Somali pirates to Mumbai Police after completion of customs and immigration procedures

As many as 35 Somali pirates, who were captured by the Indian Navy, were handed over to Mumbai Police on Saturday after due formalities of Customs and Immigration.

Visuals from Naval Dockyard, Mumbai, showed the pirates standing in a queue as Mumbai Police assigned them chest numbers.

From the dockyard, the pirates were taken to JJ Hospital for medical examination. The Indian Navy recently rescued 17 crew members of the vessel MV Ruen during an anti-piracy operation lasting nearly two days, with no casualties reported.

Around 35 pirates surrendered and were taken into custody, the Indian Navy said. The operation involved a navy destroyer, a patrol ship, an Indian Air Force C-17 transporter flying more than 1,500 miles to airdrop marine commandos, a naval drone, a reconnaissance drone and a P-8 surveillance jet, the Indian Navy release said.

Somali pirates' capture of the MV Ruen in December last year marked the first successful hijacking of a vessel off the country's coast since 2017.

Also read: Sikkim elections: SKM and BJP to contest independently, no pre-poll alliance