French navy frees suspected Somali pirates

The French navy yesterday freed three suspected Somali pirates captured the previous day due to lack of sufficient evidence, an AFP correspondent reported.

"I received orders to free them," said Jean-Marc Le Quilliec, the captain of the French frigate Nivose, which is part of the European Union anti-piracy naval force patrolling the waters of Somalia's coast.

Capt. Le Quilliec said there was "weak evidence" mainly because no arms were found with the three who were captured early Thursday aboard what was believed to be a mother ship.

The Somalis were returned to the mother ship and provided with water and medicine.

The Nivose, which had just returned from handing over 11 suspected Somali pirates to Kenya's Mombasa port, intercepted the men 420 nautical miles east of the Somali coast in the Seychelles Exclusive Economic Zone.

However, the French forces found 13 fuel drums, life boat starter plugs and several life jackets from the Bow Asir - a Norwegian chemical freighter seized by pirates on March 26 and released last month - on the suspected pirate mother boat.

The men did not resist arrest and were transferred onto the warship for questioning and spent the night on the bridge under the watch of the French forces.

Of the 101 suspected pirates so far captured by the French navy, 27 have been released for lack of evidence, military sources said. Other have been handed over to states that have signed agreements to try them.

Thursday's arrests were the latest in the hunt against marauding pirates in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden and came two days after a Russian naval destroyer seized 29 suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia.

Despite international naval missions - including from Nato and the European Union - ransom-hunting Somalis have tackled ever-bigger and more distant prizes.

Attacks against vessels surged throughout April as calm seas allowed the pirates to approach their prey more easily and dodge a growing naval presence in the region.

Without an effective central government since 1991, Somali pirates are believed to be holding to ransom at least 16 ships - 11 of which were seized in April alone - and more than 250 seamen.