Somali pirates released a hijacked ship, MV Abdullah, and its crew of 23 early on Sunday after a $5 million ransom was paid, according to two pirates. The MV Abdullah, a Bangladesh-flagged bulk carrier – a type of merchant ship used to transport large amounts of cargo – was hijacked in March as it was heading from Mozambique to the United Arab Emirates. The hijacking happened about 600 nautical miles east of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu. Somali pirates caused chaos in the waters off the country’s long coastline from about 2008 to 2018. They had been dormant until late last year when pirate activity started to pick up again. Maritime sources say pirates may be encouraged by a relaxation of security or may be taking advantage of the chaos caused by attacks on shipping by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group while war rages in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
SOURCE: CNN
