Somali police and international navies were preparing on Monday to attack a Bangladeshicommercial ship that was hijacked by pirates last week, the Puntland region's police force said, two days after Indian commandos rescued another cargo vessel held by pirates.
The MV Abdullah was hijacked off the coast of Somalia last week, the latest of more than 20 attacks since November by Somali pirates who had laid dormant for nearly a decade, reports Reuters.
On Saturday, the Indian navy rescued another cargo vessel, the Maltese-flagged MV Ruen, which had been seized in December, freeing its 17 crew members and arresting 35 pirates.
The police force from the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, a base for many pirate gangs, in Somalia said it was on high alert and prepared to participate in an operation against the pirates holding the MV Abdullah.
"Puntland police forces are ready after they got reports that international navies are planning an attack," the police said in a statement.
India's navy, which has disrupted several other attempted hijackings, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Sunday, the Puntland police said they had seized a vehicle that was transporting the narcotic khat to be supplied to the pirates on board Abdullah.
At the peak of their attacks in 2011, Somali pirates cost the global economy an estimated $7 billion, including hundreds of millions of dollars in ransom payments.
MV Abdullah had 23 Bangladeshi sailors onboard when it got hijacked by pirates last week while carrying coal from Mozambique's Maputo port to Al Hamriyah Port in the UAE. It anchored at HobyoPort in Somalia last Thursday.
The ship reportedly was moved some 50 nautical miles from Thursday’s anchoring spot on Friday. It was anchored 4 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia on Sunday.
Until Monday, the pirates did not contact the ship’s owners or any other authorities.All communications have also been lost with MV Abdullah, according to media reports.
The sailors of MV Abdullah have not been able to make any contact with their families in the last 24 hours. Earlier, some sailors had communicated with family members daily via satellite or WhatsApp. The communication cut have left the sailors’ families more worried.
The crackdown on the Bangladeshi-flagged ship is believed to have come after the Indian Navy rescued the hijacked Maltese-flagged ship, reports said.
