Commandos successfully rescued all citizens On board the hijacked ship

All 21 crew members, including 15 Indians, aboard the cargo ship 'MV Leela Norfolk', hijacked off the coast of Somalia on January 4, 2024, have been rescued. 'MV Leela Norfolk' had five or six "unidentified armed personnel" on board.

• Upon learning of the presence of a robber on board the aircraft, the crew immediately sent a message to UK Maritime Trade Operations. They  pleaded for help. Information about the incident reached the Indian Navy from there. After this, he was asked to lock himself in the safe house. Pirates could not break the security of this safe room.
• The Indian Navy had responded to a distress call regarding the hijacking of the 84,000 tonne ship.
• The Indian Naval Fleet deploys a warship, maritime patrol aircraft, helicopters and, P-8I and long-range aircraft and Predator MQ9B drones.
• Marcos, an elite commando of the Indian Navy, saved 15 Indians by sanitizing a cargo ship in the Arabian Sea.

UKMTO who got the news first:  

• On the evening of January 4, when hijackers with guns landed on the MV Leela, the ship's crew members came to know about it. They immediately sent a message to UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).
• UKMTO is a British military organization that monitors the movements of various vessels in strategic waterways. The Indian Navy is committed to ensuring the security of commercial vessels in the region along with international partners and friendly countries.

About MV Leela Norfolk:

• MV Leela Norfolk is a cargo ship sailing from Brazil to Bahrain. The flag of Liberia is on this cargo ship. It has been captured about 300 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia.

Why so many attacks in the Arabian Sea?

• In the last few months, pirates have increased their crimes in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Houthi robbers have become more active here.
• The main reason behind this could be that the Houthi rebels want to draw the attention of the world community towards the Israel-Hamas war. Houthi rebels believe that if the world community puts pressure on Israel for a ceasefire, the war between the two can stop.
• Since the Israel-Hamas conflict, the Houthi rebels have been attacking all ships with ties to Israel.
• That's why Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels are carrying out drone and missile attacks in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
• Their activism can also be gauged from the fact that these people are carrying out drone attacks on merchant ships. Maritime security agencies have become alert after such incidents.
• After such incidents, along with the US Navy, the Indian Navy has also increased its focus on this area. Because of this, the Arabian Sea has become a soft target for pirates. Taking advantage of this, pirates have started committing crimes in the Arabian Sea.

Indian Navy is on alert for the safety of merchant ships:

• The threat of piracy attempts as well as the targeting of merchant ships by long-range drones has increased over the past few months. Due to this, the Indian Navy has increased its presence in the Arabian Sea in the last weeks.
• The Indian Army has deployed its frontline destroyers and frigates, as well as patrol aircraft, to increase the pace of operations to deal with the threats.
• Earlier on 14 December 2023, pirates attacked MV Rouen. That ship was near the Somali coast. Indian Nauna also came forward to defend it.
• Last month, a drone strike hit the tanker MV Chem Pluto 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) off the coast of India.