US indicts 13 on piracy charges
Source: Agencies |
March 11, 2011, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A federal grand jury has indicted 13 suspected pirates from Somalia and one from Yemen in the February hijacking of a yacht that left four Americans dead, the US Justice Department said yesterday.
Department spokesman Peter Carr said the men face piracy, kidnapping and firearms charges.
The suspected Somali pirates were expected to appear in court yesterday in Norfolk, Virginia, which last year became home to the first successful piracy prosecution in nearly 200 years.
The Quest's owners, Jean and Scott Adam, along with their friends Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay, were shot to death after pirates took them hostage several hundred kilometers south of Oman.
It was the first time US citizens have been killed in a wave of pirate attacks that have plagued the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean in recent years, which are sparked by the potential of taking home millions of dollars in ransom money.
Pirates have increased attacks off the coast of East Africa despite an international flotilla of warships dedicated to protecting vessels and stopping the pirate assaults.
US naval forces were tracking the captured yacht with unmanned aerial vehicles and four warships, and negotiations were under way when the pirates fired a rocket-propelled grenade.
Then gunfire was heard aboard the yacht. Special forces boarded the vessel and found the Americans had been shot, according to the military.
Department spokesman Peter Carr said the men face piracy, kidnapping and firearms charges.
The suspected Somali pirates were expected to appear in court yesterday in Norfolk, Virginia, which last year became home to the first successful piracy prosecution in nearly 200 years.
The Quest's owners, Jean and Scott Adam, along with their friends Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay, were shot to death after pirates took them hostage several hundred kilometers south of Oman.
It was the first time US citizens have been killed in a wave of pirate attacks that have plagued the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean in recent years, which are sparked by the potential of taking home millions of dollars in ransom money.
Pirates have increased attacks off the coast of East Africa despite an international flotilla of warships dedicated to protecting vessels and stopping the pirate assaults.
US naval forces were tracking the captured yacht with unmanned aerial vehicles and four warships, and negotiations were under way when the pirates fired a rocket-propelled grenade.
Then gunfire was heard aboard the yacht. Special forces boarded the vessel and found the Americans had been shot, according to the military.
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