This week, the Dutch frigate HNLMS Tromp forced Somali pirates, who had been preying on ships in the far corners of the Indian Ocean, to scatter in all directions. The Tromp intercepted three groups of pirates in a region known as the ‘Somali Basin’.

Operation 'Sweeping Broom' has a special symbol for the housecleaning job, a broom which is hoisted to the mast after every successful operation. The tradition dates back to a legend about the person after whom the ship was named – Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp, a 17th-century admiral in the Dutch navy. According to legend he attached a broom to the mast of his ship as a symbol that he had swept the British from the sea.

A few questions and answers:

How were the pirates found?
Usually the first to send in a report is a merchant vessel. In one instance the vessel in question was the German ship MV E.R. Lübeck. The commanders of the European anti-pirate operation ‘Atalanta’ sent two naval reconnaissance aircraft (one Swedish and one Luxembourgian) to the region and ordered the Tromp’s Commanding Officer, Hans Lodder, to sail full steam towards the site where the pirates had last been seen.

How were they apprehended?
The Tromp used various means to apprehend the three groups of pirates. A Lynx helicopter helped stop pirate vessels with its machine gun. The ship’s cannon fired heavy shells. The Dutch Royal Navy’s Special Forces used boarding teams which seized the pirates with the help of quick rubber boats.

What happened next?
Weapons and tools used to hijack ships (such as ladders) were seized from the suspected pirates and thrown overboard. The small and quick attack boats (known as skiffs) were destroyed. In one case the pirates were sent in the direction of the Seychelles, where the country’s Coast Guard is awaiting them. The remaining pirates are being detained on board the Tromp, where they are being questioned. They will be put on boats and sent towards Somalia when the situation permits.

Will they be tried?
In some cases. The goal of the European operation ‘Atalanta’ is not to bring pirates to court, but to prevent them from hijacking merchant vessels. In order to try them successfully ‘iron-clad’ evidence is needed, as well as a country which is willing or able to try them. This is not that easy because there is no law against possessing weapons and ladders on the open sea, no matter how suspicious this may seem.

Kenya and the Seychelles have both said they are willing to try them, but these countries’ legal systems are over-extended. One also needs a party to bring charges. This is difficult when it comes to ships flying ‘flags of convenience’, which is more often than not the case. Ship owners often register their vessels in countries such as Panama, Liberia or St Kitts and Nevis in order to avoid costs such as taxes and duties. One also needs to procure witnesses and shipping companies do not like to lose their captain or other crew members for the period of the trial. After all, time is money.

Are the pirates being scared away?
No, because piracy is an extremely lucrative business, where one can earn millions. In order to really solve the problem governments would have to dispatch a few hundred additional naval vessels to the Indian Ocean. Governments lack either the will or the money for such a massive endeavour. The number of successful acts of piracy in the Gulf of Aden has dropped sharply. Not only is the area that has to be protected much smaller, but there is also a well-guarded transit corridor for merchant ships.

Links:

EUNAVFOR
Operation Ocean Shield (NATO)
MSC(HOA)
(Short) video warning shots
Colonel Hans Lodder on Twitter: COTromp