With attacks from pirates on a rise, the Indian Government is considering to equip the Indian merchant vessels with armed security guards to fight piracy.

The Union Minister for Shipping, Mr G.K. Vasan, in a written reply to the Goa Rajya Sabha member, Mr Shantaram Naik, said that the proposal to deploy armed security guards on the Indian merchant ships is under consideration by the Government.

Mr Vasan said that the Union Government will shortly take a view on this aspect, considering the criminal activities affecting the merchant navy ship operations.

The Goa MP had written to the Ministry that “world powers have to put in more efforts to thwart such criminal activities or else even the terrorists will resort to piracy as one of the methods of terrorising the world community.”

The MP had written: “Ship owners should be authorised to carry arms for self-defence and face the armed pirates, when they climb the ships...It is appreciated that the Indian Navy has been playing an important role in this regard and more powers have to be given to the Navy to tackle the problem of ship hijacking.”

In a response to the letter, Mr Vasan said that Indian Navy was carrying out anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden since October 2008.

“A total number of 25 Indian Navy Ships have been deployed in the Gulf of Aden since then and a total of 1,573 ships, including 1,402 foreign-flagged vessels from different countries, have been escorted by Indian Navy ships in the Gulf of Aden since October 2008,” he added.

The Minister has further informed Mr Naik in the letter that 29 piracy attempts have been thwarted and no ship under Indian escort has been hijacked by pirates.

“In recent naval operations, Indian Navy has neutralised four mother ships and apprehended 120 pirates,” Mr Vasan said.

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