A boat with six suspected pirates aboard was intercepted in the Gulf of Aden, off Somalia, by a Dutch military vessel with an Armed Forces of Malta security team on board.

The skiff, as the flat-bottomed, open motorboat is known, was detected as it was moving towards Dutch warship HNLMS Johan de Witt, at great speed, the Armed Forces of Malta said.

As the alarm was sounded on board the ship, the AFM team, made up of 12 personnel, prepared itself for action. As soon as those aboard the skiff realised they were dealing with a military vessel, they changed course towards the coast. The Dutch ship fired a number of warning shots in the skiff's direction. It stopped and the suspected pirates surrendered, with the AFM team securing the skiff and transferring those on board onto the navy ship.

The incident happened earlier this week.

The Maltese soldiers form what is called a "Vessel Protection Detachment" that is part of the EU's counter-piracy mission EU NAVFOR Atalanta.

Their role is to provide protection to ships carrying emergency relief goods or to other vulnerable ships that are escorted by HNLMS Johan de Witt.

Meanwhile, Dutch Defence minister Eimert van Middelkoop, who had visited the Johan de Witt at the weekend prior to visiting Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi in Malta last Tuesday, praised the professionalism of the Maltese soldiers.

The partnership between Malta and the Netherlands came about after a Memorandum of Understanding on deploying the AFM team on the Johan de Witt to participate in the EU NAVFOR Atalanta mission.