Regional action on piracy threat essential: Shihab tells SAARC

Dinghies suspected of being associated with piracy are arriving in the seas around the Maldives and a regional mechanism to counter piracy is needed, said the Maldivian minister of home affairs Mohamed Shihab at the SAARC home ministers meeting in Islamabad, Pakistan, reports Miadhu Daily.

The SAARC Drug and Terrorism Offences Monitoring group also needs to be strengthened, Shihab said. Police chiefs, immigration controllers and home secretaries attended the meeting which was held from 23 to 26 June.

This month a dinghy with 6 men aboard was found floating in Maldives waters and rescued by local fishermen off Maamakunudhoo atoll in northern Maldives, reported Miadhu Daily. In May the MNDF rescued an Iranian fishing boat with 20 people aboard 75 miles west of Huvadhu atoll in southern Maldives, and an abandoned boat suspected of belonging to pirates was discovered off Laamu atoll just north of Huvadhu in April. In December 2009, fishermen from Addu atoll spotted a similar boat with seven Somalis in distress drifting off Hithadhoo island in southern Maldives.