Piracy is back in force.
Maritime commerce has become increasingly more dangerous lately, with attacks on cargo ships in the Black Sea, the Red Sea, and the Strait of Hormuz, among others.
Now, the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean off the Horn of Africa have returned to the list, as Somali pirates take full advantage of the instability caused by the Iran war to get back to their predatory ways.
Reports arise that the Horners are using a hijacked cargo ship as a springboard to capture other vessels in a resurgence of attacks.
JUST IN:
Somali pirates have been using hijacked cargo ship as a “mothership” to capture other vessels.
— BRICS News (@BRICSinfo) July 27, 2026
The Telegraph reported:
“Two Iranian fishing boats were captured on July 16 by pirates operating from a 330ft cement carrier they had seized earlier this year.
At one point last week, six captured vessels were being held off the Puntland coast as the pirates demanded hefty ransoms. Two of the vessels were released on Saturday.”
The Iran conflict left naval patrols overstretched, so the Horners are again using captured cargo ships as pirate ‘motherships’: bases to raid vessels in the Indian Ocean, a tactic used during the height of Somali piracy 15 years ago.
“Their attacks were the scourge of maritime traffic in the Indian Ocean, leading to hundreds of millions of pounds in ransom payments and billions more in extra costs to international trade.
[…] Intelligence sources said pirates had begun using the MV Sward cargo ship as a mothership after capturing the vessel on April 26, along with its crew of 15 Syrians and two Indians. The vessel was hijacked after it departed the port of Suez in Egypt on its way to Mombasa in Kenya.”
Reuters reported:
“A merchant ship hijacked in Yemeni waters in the Gulf of Aden last week is now being held by Somali pirates, two residents of Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region told Reuters on Thursday.
The ship, the MT Asana, is a Tanzanian-flagged fuel and chemical tanker. One of the residents who spoke to Reuters described himself as a former pirate. He said there were 20 crew members on board the MT Asana, including eight from Germany and 10 from the Philippines.
Germany’s foreign ministry said it did not comment on abductions of German nationals overseas as a matter of principle.”
Read more from May:
SEA DANGER: Somali Pirates Hijack Another Oil Tanker, This Time off the Coast of Yemen
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