NEW DELHI: Distance, it seems, is no longer a shield for pirates in the Indian Ocean. In a sharp display of its long-range operational reach, the Navy has freed a hijacked fishing vessel and all 20 of its crew from heavily armed pirates. The tightly choreographed 48-hour operation unfolded deep in the Arabian Sea, more than 3,000km from Mumbai.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh announced the rescue on X late on Monday. He said the "swift localisation, interception and safe release" of the crew and vessel, with timely support from the Indian Air Force (IAF), reflected the Navy's high operational readiness. It also demonstrated India's "ability, intent and resolve" to safeguard lives at sea, he added.
A photograph shared by the minister shows destroyer INS Kolkata standing by as heavily armed commandos guard what appear to be the pirates, seated on the deck of the fishing vessel. A cache of seized weapons is laid out beside them.
The Iranian fishing vessel Azini was seized off Somalia's northeastern coast last Thursday by 12 armed pirates, according to the EU-led Maritime Security Centre-Indian Ocean (MSCIO) and Puntland maritime police.
MSCIO subsequently tracked the vessel heading east towards a busy merchant shipping lane, and warned it could be used as a "mothership" for further attacks.
Significantly, the operation was mounted even farther out than the Navy's landmark anti-piracy mission of March 2024. The same destroyer, INS Kolkata, had then intercepted the pirate ship MV Ruen around 2,600km from the Indian coast. An IAF C-17 flew for almost 10 hours to paradrop MARCOS commandos and two combat boats into the sea, with all 35 pirates surrendering after a 40-hour standoff.
Pinpointing a small fishing vessel in the vast expanse of the ocean is no easy task. Sustaining warships and aircraft on station for 48 hours at such distances calls for persistent surveillance, long-range logistics and seamless Navy-IAF jointness. These are the very building blocks of a blue-water force capable of projecting power well beyond its shores.
The operation also has a larger security dimension since Somali pirates routinely convert hijacked fishing boats and dhows into motherships. They use these as floating bases to target large merchant vessels far beyond the range of their skiffs. Neutralising the Azini early removed a potential threat to the sea lanes that carry the bulk of India's trade and energy imports.
The Navy has kept warships on mission-based deployments in the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden since Somali piracy resurfaced in late 2023.
In January 2024, INS Sumitra freed two Iranian fishing vessels, Iman and Al Naeemi, along with 36 crew in under 36 hours. Two months later, INS Sumedha and INS Trishul rescued the 23 Pakistani crew of the Al-Kambar.
Such operations, often involving foreign crews far from Indian waters, have strengthened India's credentials as the first responder and preferred security partner in the IOR.
This also assumes added significance as China steadily expands its own naval footprint in the region. Beijing maintains anti-piracy task forces in the Gulf of Aden and has its first overseas military base at Djibouti.
The Navy is yet to release details of the other warships and aircraft deployed. It is also not clear whether the pirates will be brought to India for prosecution under the Maritime Anti-Piracy Act, 2022.