Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], March 19 (ANI): After the Indian warship INS Kolkata successfully cornered and coerced all 35 pirates to surrender on the pirate ship MV Ruen, Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar said that the exercise was part of an ongoing anti-piracy operation since 2008 and piracy suddenly increased some months ago.

"It has been an ongoing operation for a long time. Since 2008, we have had a presence in anti-piracy operations. Piracy suddenly resurfaced around 3-4 months ago, and since then we have put more ships there. We are investigating all suspicious vessels that have piracy triggers in this ongoing operation," Admiral Hari Kumar said while speaking to ANI on Monday.

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On the successful anti-piracy operation, Kumar said, "While doing this, we came across MV Ruen which was used as a pirate mother ship. We deployed our ships. They had stopped the ship and then convinced them to surrender."

Speaking about the crew members, the Navy Chief said, "There was a crew of 17 personnel on board, seven from Bulgaria, one from Angola and nine from Myanmar. So they are all safe. The ship is now being sent back to its next port of call."

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"We protect, preserve, promote and pursue Bharat's national interests. That is our job and that is what we were doing," he added.

Speaking about the pirates, Kumar said, "They will be brought back to Mumbai and handed over to the police."

The Indian warship INS Kolkata successfully cornered and coerced all 35 pirates to surrender on Saturday, ensuring the safe evacuation of 17 crew members from the pirate vessel without any injury, the Indian Navy said in an official statement.

In the rescue operation, which lasted for the last 40 hours, INS Kolkata intercepted the under-attack pirate ship Ruen, sailing almost 2600 km from the shores of the Indian Coast, and forced the pirate ship to stop through calibrated actions.

In the action to safely rescue the crew members and take full control of the distressed vessel, the operation was supported by the Indian warship INS Subhadra, High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE RPA) drones, P8I maritime patrol aircraft, and MARCOS PRAHARs airdropped by C-17 aircraft.

Later, the vessel was also sanitised for the presence of illegal arms, ammunition, and contraband. (ANI)

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