Mogadishu (Somalia Today) – Somali pirates have hijacked an oil tanker carrying 17 crew members off Somalia’s northeastern coast, security officials said, raising fears that armed gangs are again exploiting regional maritime turmoil and gaps in naval surveillance.
Six gunmen overran the Honour 25 late Wednesday, about 30 nautical miles offshore as it sailed towards Mogadishu, officials from Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region told the BBC.
The tanker was carrying 18,500 barrels of oil before it anchored off the Somali coast between the fishing towns of Hafun and Bander Beyla, the officials said.
Five more-armed men have since boarded the vessel, bringing the number of attackers to 11, according to the same sources.
The crew includes 10 Pakistanis, 4 Indonesians, 1 Indian, 1 Sri Lankan, and 1 Myanmar national.
Pakistan’s maritime authorities said they had intensified efforts to secure the safe recovery of the Pakistani crew members.
Fuel fears
The seizure is likely to heighten anxiety in Mogadishu, where petrol prices have already tripled since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran and the disruption around the Strait of Hormuz.
The Honour 25 left Berbera, in Somalia’s breakaway Somaliland region, on February 20 and later reached waters near the United Arab Emirates before turning back towards Somalia in early April, maritime tracking data showed.
The ship then circled in waters close to the entrance of the Strait of Hormuz before heading towards Mogadishu.
Its cargo would make the vessel a valuable target at a time when fuel supplies across the region are under pressure from conflict, rising insurance costs, and insecurity along major maritime routes.
Officials believe the hijackers set off from a remote area near Bander Beyla, a stretch of coastline long associated with pirate activity. It remains unclear how they intercepted and took control of the tanker.
Neither Somalia’s federal authorities nor the European Union Naval Force, which runs anti-piracy operations in Somali waters, has issued a public statement on the hijacking.
The attack follows a sharp rise in warnings off Somalia after years in which piracy had largely faded from waters where armed gangs once terrorised global shipping.
Piracy off Somalia peaked in 2011, when hundreds of attacks were reported, and criminal networks extracted millions of dollars in ransom payments from ship owners and insurers.
International naval patrols, armed guards on commercial ships and stronger onboard security later drove attacks down sharply, allowing traffic through the Gulf of Aden and western Indian Ocean to recover.
Piracy returns
But recent incidents have revived concern that pirate networks are rebuilding capacity, using hijacked dhows and fishing boats as mother ships to extend their reach far beyond Somalia’s shore.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency said two small armed boats approached a cargo vessel about 83 nautical miles southeast of Eyl, Somalia, in a separate incident.
One craft came within 600 metres of the vessel, prompting the crew to fire warning shots. The suspicious craft returned fire before moving away, UKMTO said, adding that all crew were safe and accounted for.
Maritime monitors have warned ships to maintain heightened vigilance, especially within 150 nautical miles of the Somali coast, with the stretch between Mogadishu and Hafun seen as a particular danger zone.
The latest hijacking also tests Somalia’s efforts to rebuild maritime control after years of conflict, weak coastal enforcement and reliance on foreign partners for naval security.
Mogadishu has sought to strengthen its maritime capabilities through international partnerships, including a 10-year defence and economic agreement with Turkey aimed at supporting naval protection and coastal security.
But the seizure of a fuel tanker so close to shore underscores the scale of the challenge facing Somali authorities as piracy, regional war and commercial shipping risks increasingly overlap in one of the world’s most sensitive maritime corridors.
