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MOGADISHU,
September 19, 2009 – Egypt handed over to Somalia's Puntland authorities
eight suspected pirates who had seized two Egyptian fishing vessels
before being overpowered by the crew, officials said.
"We have received the eight pirates from Egyptian officials. They are
now in the hands of the police for questioning and will be awaiting
trial," the governor of Puntland's Bari region, Muse Gele Farole, said.
The eight suspects were handed over in the Gulf of Aden port of Bosasso,
the economic capital of northern Somalia's semi-autonomous region.
A senior Puntland police official confirmed that the eight were held in
a Bosasso jail.
Puntland has already sentenced dozens of pirates detained by foreign
navies in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden to heavy jail terms.
The FV Momtaz 1 and FV Samara vessels got a heroes' welcome in Egypt
last month following reports that the crews managed to disarm the
pirates. They made their way back up the Red Sea with the eight locked
up in refrigerated holds.
The two ships were allegedly stopped on April 10 for illegal fishing and
were held off the small coastal town of Las Qoray, which straddles a
disputed border between Somaliland and the breakaway state of Puntland.
The local authorities' failure to take appropriate action on a case of
illegal fishing gradually turned the captivity of the two vessels into a
case of piracy.
Source: Agencies, September 15, 2009
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