Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Brussels, Belgium - Belgian military frigate "Marie-Louise", which is part of the European Union Naval Force Somalia, tagged 'Operation Atalanta", has intercepted a vessel with five Somali pirates on board in the Indian Ocean, the Belgian Ministry of Defence said.
It said, in a statement made available to PANA here Tuesday, that the pirates are been screened to see if any of them was involved in the capture of the Belgian vessel "The Pompei" in 2009.
If any of the pirates is found to have participated in the capture of the "Pompei", he will be transferred to Belgium for trial, the ministry said.
The EU Force was launched in 2008 in the Indian Ocean to prevent pirates operating off the Somali coast from capturing merchant and relief ships.