Somali pirates exchange captured crew of MV Abdullah for $5 million

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Somali pirates released the hijacked ship, MV Abdullah, and its crew of 23 on April 14 after a $5 million ransom was paid, as reported by two pirates.

The MV Abdullah, a Bangladesh-flagged bulk carrier, was hijacked in March while heading from Mozambique to the United Arab Emirates. The incident occurred approximately 600 nautical miles east of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu. According to Reuters, Abdirashiid Yusuf, one of the pirates, stated: “The money was brought to us two nights ago as usual… we checked whether the money was fake or not. Then we divided the money into groups and left, avoiding the government forces.“

To remind, there was another recent incident of Somali piracy where, luckily, Indian naval commandos successfully released the Malta-flagged commercial vessel MV Ruen on 16th March. The ship had been seized by Somali pirates on 14th December, approximately 450 nautical miles east of Socotra in the northern Arabian Sea.

Pirate activity off Somalia’s coast had been dormant from about 2017 until late last year when it started to pick up again. To remind, EU Naval Force ATALANTA has issued an update on the piracy threat off the coast of Somalia, following an increased number of reported incidents. 
As Reuters reports, pirates may be encouraged by a relaxation of security or may be taking advantage of the chaos caused by attacks on shipping by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group and the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. In any case, piracy remains an important threat to global shipping.