Real Pirates! Weekly Piracy Report!

[News Crew]

The Canadian Navy is getting in on the action this week!   Canadian frigate thwarts suspected pirates in Arabian Sea ERIN ANDERSSEN From Monday's Globe and Mail April 5, 2009 at 11:13 PM EDT A big red stop sign and the stern look of a Canadian machine gun scared off suspected pirates targeting a merchant tanker in the Arabian Sea this weekend. HMCS Winnipeg is only four days into its new NATO mission to deter a rash of piracy along shipping channels in the area, and already two boatloads of civilians are grateful for its presence. On Saturday morning, as part of Operation Allied Protector, the warship received a distress call from the Pacific Opal. The tanker captain said the ship was being tailed by three unknown skiffs – the typical practice of pirates, many of whom are former Somali fishermen. HMCS Winnipeg sent its Sea King helicopter to assess the situation, and found the skiffs closing in on the tanker, which was headed west in the Gulf of Aden to the Suez Canal. The helicopter hovered above the boats and lowered its stop sign – written in Somali and measuring three metres by one metre – beside its machine gun. The boats came to an immediate halt, and stayed there until the Pacific Opal was a safe distance away. Sergeant Andy Gervais of HMCS Winnipeg participates in a defensive firing exercise from a CH-124 Sea King helicopter in the Indian Ocean in preparation for counter-piracy operations of the coast of Somalia. “The pirates know exactly what they are dealing with,” said Commander Craig Baines in a telephone interview from HMCS Winnipeg. “Because they now knew for sure that we were in the vicinity, it isn't likely they would carry out another attack.”
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