Somali pirates want Indian hostages swapped with jailed colleagues
April 16th, 2011 - 1:18 pm ICT by ANIMogadishu (Somalia), Apr 16 (ANI): Despite receiving a multimillion dollar ransom, the Somali pirates have kept the Indian hostages, and demanded release of their colleagues in India.
“We decided to keep them because India is holding our colleagues,” a pirate, Hassan Farah, said.
“We released the other crew members who sailed away from our coast. We will keep these Indians until the India releases our colleagues, ” Farah added
A multimillion dollar ransom was paid for the ship Asphalt Venture, whose ownership is located in Mumbai, India.
It wasn’t immediately clear how many of the 15 crew members aboard the Asphalt Venture were Indian. The ship was hijacked in late September.
Indian Navy recently caught 16 Somali pirates and foiled a mission of the pirates in March 2011. (ANI)
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Tags: asphalt, colleagues, crew members, farah, hassan, indian hostages, indian navy, indians, late september, mogadishu somalia, multimillion dollar, mumbai india, pirate, ransom, somali pirates