In a major operation, the Indian Navy intercepted a pirate mother ship, rescuing 13 crew members, and arrested 61 Somali sea brigands about 600 nautical miles off the western coast.

“Vega 5, a pirate mother vessel, was intercepted by a fast attack craft, INS Kalpeni. 61 pirates were apprehended and 13 crew members rescued,” a navy spokesperson said here today.

The pirates and their ship were being brought to Mumbai for further investigations, the spokesperson said.

Details including as to when the operation took place were not immediately available.

INS Kalpeni was inducted into the Navy in October last year. In January, the Navy under ‘Operation Island Watch’ had sunk two pirate mother ships and apprehended 43 pirates. The pirates were questioned in Mumbai by the intelligence agencies for any possible terror links.

The operation apprehending 61 pirates comes after the Cabinet Committee on Security on Friday last decided to adopt a proactive approach in dealing with sea brigands, who have held around 53 Indians as hostages in different hijacked ships.

The Government has ruled out negotiations with the pirates. It is working on a tough law to deal with the piracy problem.

At present, piracy is dealt with under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code and century-old Admiralty law but the Government would like to have a separate statute with provisions to effectively tackle the problem that takes place far away from Indian shores.

The Navy has deployed three ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea to deal with the piracy menace.

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