India should lead fight against sea piracy

India could consider leveraging the immense naval resources of its Quad partners — the US, Japan, and Australia — to combat piracy on the high seas.

The Indian Navy’s speedy response on January 5 saved the MV Lila Norfolk, a Liberian-flagged cargo vessel barely 24 hours after it was hijacked 850 kilometres off Somalia. From all accounts, armed pirates boarded the ship, forcing its 21-man crew — including 15 Indians — into the citadel: an emergency room, similar to a storm shelter, where the crew can hide during an attack.

INS Chennai, a destroyer on anti-piracy patrol, which was diverted towards the hijacked ship launched helicopter-borne marine commandos who sanitised MV Lila Norfolk (from which the pirates had fled by then) and evacuated the crew. As Navy spokesperson Commodore Vivek Madhwal said: “The attempt of hijacking by the pirates was probably abandoned with the forceful warning by Indian Navy’s maritime patrol aircraft of interception by the naval warship."

 This intrigue may have had a happy ending, but the MV Ruen, a Malta-registered cargo vessel in the Arabian Sea, was not so lucky. On December 15, Somali pirates using speed boats captured the MV Ruen and took its 18 crew members hostage, shooting and wounding one of them. Although INS Kochi, an Indian Navy-guided missile destroyer, caught up with MV Ruen and helped secure the release of the wounded sailor, it could not prevent the pirates from sailing off towards the Somali coast. As of this writing, the ship is reportedly being held in a remote coastal location and ransom negotiations are taking place between the pirates and the ship's owners.

 These add to the recent spate of piracy incidents in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea that raises the billion-dollar question: have Somali pirates, once the scourge of the high seas, returned to haunt global shipping lanes? It was widely believed that piracy in the Somali basin and the Indian Ocean was quelled in 2017, after eight years of an international naval effort called Operation Ocean Shield led by the United States. India had a major role in that massive pirate hunt which deployed many warships from several navies.

 The Red Sea, extending south-eastward from the Suez, Egypt, is crucial for the movement of oil carriers, and any disruption of this supply chain is bound to result in soaring energy prices. Ships sailing from Asia to Europe and North America usually prefer to cross the Suez Canal which connects the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic. Unfortunately, this makes the Gulf of Aden (a natural sea link between the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea) a magnet for pirates. The only alternative for anxious shipping companies is to transit through the longer route around the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa. But this means adding thousands of kilometres and lengthier shipping times that translate into a steep hike in freight costs, pushing up prices.

 The immediate trigger for the upsurge in these attacks is obvious: pirates fishing in troubled waters as regional tensions boil over Israel's war on Gaza. The US Navy’s powerful presence in the Red Sea to support Israel has attracted ballistic missile and drone attacks from Houthi rebels who control large parts of Yemen. Pirates are using this as a cover to prey on commercial shipping, possibly with the help of proxy Iranian forces who provide them sea-borne assets to distract the US and its allies from their express mission in the Red Sea.

 Decades of civil war, the proliferation of armed militias, political instability, and extreme poverty are the chief reasons for Somalis to turn to piracy. While there is no wishing away this socio-economic reality, a two-pronged approach could help tackle the menace of piracy in the region. First, international co-operation on fighting piracy must be strengthened through more robust legal frameworks and extradition processes. Captured pirates, for instance, may get off with light sentences in the absence of domestic anti-piracy laws. New Delhi has set a good example by enacting the Maritime Anti-Piracy Bill in January 2023, which brings the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea within its ambit. The law enforces stringent anti-piracy measures, including the award of death penalty, through designated courts. India should encourage other countries to enact similar national laws to make the process of extradition and prosecution of pirates under international law easier.

 Second, ships in pirate-infested waters should have state-of-the-art AI-powered radar and sonar to detect suspicious activities and facilities for real-time information sharing with regional and global maritime security organisations.

 However, millions of square kilometres of open ocean offer new challenges like ensuring maritime cybersecurity and dealing with ‘dark shipping’ — vessels switching off their identification and location transponders to evade detection. Armed with sophisticated weaponry, satellite phones, and portable radar detectors to access ships’ systems, pirates operate speedboats camouflaged as fishing boats to approach and board unsuspecting ships.

 As a major seafaring nation dependent on maritime trade, an assertive India should assume a leadership role in the fight against sea piracy. Besides taking part in bilateral and multilateral maritime drills, Indian naval and Coast Guard vessels are deployed in piracy-prone waters to prevent attacks and escort ships under various flags. India could also consider leveraging the immense naval resources of its Quad partners — the US, Japan, and Australia — to combat piracy on the high seas.

Prakash Chandra is former editor of the Indian Defence Review. He writes on aerospace and strategic affairs.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.