Piracy

MOGADISHU, Somalia — A string of hijackings off Somalia’s coast has revived one of the region’s most unsettling security threats, with three vessels seized in a single week and fresh concern rippling through the shipping world. The most recent incident involved the commercial vessel Sward, taken on April 26, just days after pirates captured the oil tanker Honour 25 on April 21. The tanker was carrying 18,000 barrels of oil, according to the Maritime Security Centre Indian Ocean, the European Union’s naval monitoring center.…

Sunday April 26, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — U.S. authorities say they have arrested a Somali national facing passport fraud allegations and suspected of ties to a 2012 piracy case, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The man, identified as Said Jama Ahmed, was detained near the U.S.-Canada border after an off-duty Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer noticed him, officials said in a statement on Friday. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested Ahmed on the evening of April 14, 2026, several miles south…

Mogadishu (AX) — The resurgence of pirate activity in the Indian Ocean alongside a surge of armed robberies in the Singapore Strait has reignited international apprehension regarding maritime safety. These notorious acts now pose a renewed threat to crucial global shipping avenues. Alerts from the European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR) and the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP ISC) have startled ship operators. They advised boosting ship defenses in these…

Garowe (AX) — Abdiqani Dayib Awnur Soolle, one of the marauding sea bandits implicated in the MV Abdalla hijacking, has been apprehended by Northeastern State Security Forces. Authorities nabbed Soolle in the Eyl region and its environs, where he was skulking, according to an official report. Police conveyed that meticulous intelligence gathered on Soolle paved the way for the successful capture. This marks the third apprehension related to the ship's hijacking since it fell into pirate hands in March. In June,…