A US-sanctioned oil tanker hijacked by Somali pirates in August has been liberated, authorities in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland State region said Friday, as piracy again draws attention in the western Indian Ocean.
Mohamed Jama, a commander with the Puntland State Maritime Police Force, told Reuters that forces launched a counter-piracy operation two days earlier and that the mission remained underway. “The ship is free and the pirates are all in the hands of our forces,” he said.
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Six armed men seized the Sibu 1 on August 20, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO). The US Treasury sanctioned the tanker in December, alleging that it was part of a shadow fleet used to help Iranian petroleum products evade US sanctions.
The hijacking was among a series of attacks reported off Somalia’s coast in recent months.
According to International Maritime Bureau data and UKMTO reports, Sibu 1 was at least the 13th vessel targeted this year off Somalia or in the Gulf of Aden, the waterway separating Somalia from Yemen.
Somali piracy surged between 2008 and 2014, creating a security crisis across the western Indian Ocean. The attacks cost the global economy billions of dollars and generated hundreds of millions of dollars in ransom payments.
Reporting by Aaron Ross. Writing by Elias Biryabarema. Editing by Timothy Heritage and Jon Boyle
