Security

16.4, piracy

France: six Somali pirates captured after the rescue of hostages on board passenger (cruise) Le Ponant arrived in Paris for trial. The six were brought to France on board a military plane and quickly placed in detention. French troops caught the pirates five days earlier in a land chase in Somalia. About half a dozen other pirates escaped. The vessel’s 30-member crew, held for a week, were freed apparently in exchange for a ransom from the vessel’s owners, widely reported by the French press to be about US$2.0mn. French troops recovered sacks of money during the pirates’ capture, according to France’s chief of defence staff. The pirates arrived in Paris two days after the 22 French members of the crew returned home. Crew members said the armed pirates were not violent toward their hostages. The pirates can be held for up to 96 hours for preliminary questioning. After that, they could be presented to judges who will decide whether to file preliminary charges against them and keep them in pre-trial detention. Somali authorities granted speedy extraditions so the pirates could be brought to France. Paris was in contact with Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf throughout the crisis, and apprehended the pirates with the “full accord” of the Somali leader, the French Foreign Ministry has said. The French prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary inquiry into possible charges of hijacking a vessel and taking hostages to seek a ransom and as part of an organised gang. Such charges carry maximum sentences of life in prison.