The French navy captured 12 suspected pirates off the coasts of Somalia and the Seychelles on Thursday, an army spokesman said on Friday (13 Nov).The French frigate, Floreal, captured a mothership carrying arms, ammunition and fuel as well as two skiffs some 650 nautical miles east of Hobyo in Somalia and to the north-west of the Seychelles, army spokesman Christophe Prazuck said.
Attacks on tuna boats and private yachts off the Seychelles have surged in recent weeks as Somali pirates extend their range to evade navies from around the world patrolling off the Horn of Africa.
Prazuck said France had not yet decided how to proceed with the suspected pirates. In the past, pirates have at times been handed over to authorities in the Seychelles or Kenya as lawless Somalia lacks the means to prosecute them.
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