Somali pirates abandon hijacked UAE port due to low supplies | Story

The lemon-laden Fahad-4, which was stolen in late April, was used as a mothership to attack other ships.

An Emirati plane hijacked by Somali pirates last month has been abandoned in the Arabian Sea after the militants failed to use the ship to attack other ships, security officials in Somalia’s Puntland region told AFP.

A group of 11 pirates seized the Fahad-4 in late April about 10 nautical miles (19km) from the coastal town of Dhinowda in northeastern Somalia.

There was no information on the fate of the crew of the lemon-laden boat, and Somali officials have not publicly commented on the ship’s condition.

Security officials in Puntland told AFP that the attackers took off from an area near the port of Garacad, about 600 kilometers north of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu.

After taking control of the terminal, the pirates “traveled in Somali waters using a hijacked ship as a mother in an attempt to attack other ships”, one of the officials told AFP.

The pirates were forced to abandon the ship on May 4 because “they ran out of supplies and were unable to attack other ships because of warnings to ships that have passed through Somali waters in recent weeks,” an official told AFP.

The incident is the latest in a spate of kidnappings that have reignited fears of extorting Somalis after years of calm on the world’s busiest road.

According to the Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC), an international organization that oversees maritime security in the Indian Ocean, the threat of piracy has reached “significant” following a series of attacks targeting commercial shipping channels.

Maritime officials say several vessels seized in recent weeks remain in the hands of pirates, including the Bajan-flagged tanker Honor 25, which was hijacked off Puntland on April 21, and the Syrian Sward.

Across the Gulf of Aden, pirates hijacked the Togolese-flagged Eureka oil tanker off the coast of Yemen before steering the vessel towards the coast of Somalia.

It is still unclear which groups are behind the attacks. In the past, local fishermen and various armed groups, including those affiliated with ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda, have been kidnapped.

Researchers think that the diversion of antipiracy patrols from 2023 to the Red Sea to deal with the threats of the Houthis living in Yemen in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Gulf of Aden with the Red Sea, has created an opportunity.

In recent times, the sea voyages of other countries that have previously contributed to the killings have been disrupted or diverted to escort ships trying to enter the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran and the United States have closed.

Rising oil prices amid the US-Israel conflict in Iran have also made oil tankers, such as the Honor 25, more valuable to pirates, experts say.

According to the World Bank, the annual impact of piracy in Somalia on the global economy was as high as $18bn during the crisis.