UK to help fund maritime surveillance of pirates in Indian Ocean

The UK will contribute £6 million to maritime surveillance in the Indian Ocean in a bid to contain the spread of pirates in the Indian Ocean, as part of a £5.3 million counter piracy programme conducted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The money will also be used to increase prison capacity in Somalia and across the Indian ocean. £600,000 will also be provided to fund enhanced optical imagery equipment for the Seychelles Coastguard to allow surveillance aircraft to take high image quality video and photographs.

“This will aid the capture of the pirates and provide valuable evidence in court cases. The fuel tanks of the aircraft will also be upgraded to enable them to fly longer distances,” the UK High Commission to Sri Lanka and the Maldives said in a statement.

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, said that there are currently around 820 Somali pirates “either serving sentences or awaiting trial around the world. I am pleased that the UK’s new support to counter piracy efforts in the Indian Ocean will aid the location, capture and detention of pirates across the region.”

Increased counter-piracy activity in the Gulf of Aden has led to pirates spreading outwards into the Indian Ocean. Several boatloads of lost and malnourished pirates were rescued by islanders in the Maldives last year, presenting the government with a major international legal headache.