New details that have come to light reveal that the pirate mother ship that was used to hijack Malta-flagged merchant vessel MV Ruen on December 14 was itself an Iranian-flagged fishing vessel Al Ashkaan with 24 Pakistani crew members.
Al Ashkaan was hijacked earlier on November 29, 2023, near Socotra Island off the coast of Yemen and used for the subsequent act of piracy, as confirmed by at least two sources.
“Fishing vessel Al Ashkaan was hijacked by seven Somali pirates and taken to Somalia and later used to hijack Ruen. After that they set free Al Ashkaan, which asked other Iranian fishing vessels for fuel and supplies,” an official source said.
Continuous watch
The pirates had kept continuous watch and were very aggressive with hijacked crew members, a source added. The hijackers had first diverted Al Ashkaan to Mozart Pirates Camp in Somalia, where two more armed pirates had boarded the vessel.
MV Ruen was hijacked on December 14, 2023, when it was 600 Nm east off the Somalian coast. Subsequently, it sailed out of Somalian waters for further acts of piracy on the high seas when it was intercepted by INS Kolkata on March 14. After a 40-hour operation, the Indian Navy forced the surrender of 35 pirates and freed the 17 original crew members of the vessel. An Indian Air Force (IAF) C-17 transport aircraft airdropped marine commandos and combat boats as part of the mission, which was executed 2,600 km away from the Indian coast.
On March 23, the 35 pirates were brought to Mumbai and handed to the police for prosecution.
The Navy stated that after repairs and assessment, MV Ruen — with its Malta-flag restored — had proceeded on its own power to the port of Salalah, Oman as decided by the shipping company, with the escort of INS Subhadra.
The sequence of events that occurred were revealed after Italian ship ITS Martinengo operating under CTF 465 of the EU NAVFOR Ops ATLANTA (Operation Atlanta, European Union Naval Force Somalia) conducted a compliance boarding of the fishing vessel on February 27 and questioned the captain and crew.
The Maritime Security Centre – Horn of Africa (MSCHOA) which monitors maritime activity listed the hijacking of the fishing vessel.
There was communication on this incident between NAVCENT (United States Naval Forces Central Command) in Bahrain and the Director of Naval Operations of the Pakistan Navy.
Sources added that the Al Ashkaan crew intended to continue fishing in the vicinity of Socotra Island till the end of Ramzan and, thereafter, proceed to Iran. They have four barrels of fuel available and each barrel can last up to 10 days, the source added.
