Piracy, capture, arrest - the tale of Mega Rama aka Alondra Rainbow

Dear (s)              Much has been talked about Piracy – a war-like act, robbery and criminal violence at sea. Much of the recent attacks are reported at the Gulf of Aden located in Arabian sea between Yemen and Somalia – as most of the perpetrators are somalians, this is now termed as Somalian piracy. This place is strategically located in the shipping route to Suez canal and thousands of ships pass through.

                                                           French yacht caught by Pirates

When more incidents got reported, some Insurers restricted their coverage to exclude acts of piracy or restricted their terms of coverage as occurring closer to puntland. It was by and large perceived as unconnected or not proximate to Indian shores. The dreaded criminals who were not averse to killing their captives, have not properly been convicted.

Recently in Norfolk, a US Judge threw out piracy charges against 6 somali men accused of attacking US Navy ship. The Law dates backs to 1819 and Judge Raymond Jackson felt that their conduct did not include robbing, boarding, or taking control of the USS Ashland warship. The Govt. could not establish unauthroised acts of violence or aggression committed on high seas as defined by law. Later an accused pirate from Somalia pleaded guilty in federal court in Virginia to criminal charges over an April attack on a USS Ashland, a warship that supports amphibious operations, in the Gulf of Aden. In addition, Ibrahim was charged on Friday with conspiracy to commit piracy and to use a firearm during a crime of violence during an alleged act of piracy in the Gulf of Aden against a merchant vessel, the M/V CEC Future, the Justice Department said.

                                                          Pirates apprehended by French
Here is something which happened in our own backyard – a much stern measure – which perhaps never got the recognition it deserved. Do you know the case of vessel MV Alondra Rainbow and the punishment meted out by Indian Court ???

The act of piracy includes acts committed in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons travelling on the same vessel as the perpetrator (e.g. one passenger stealing from others on the same vessel). An act of piracy is of tremendous concern to the Ship owner and the cargo owner. The following definition of piracy is contained in article 101 of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS):
“Piracy consists of any of the following acts:
a) any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft, and directed: on the high seas, against another ship or aircraft, or against persons or property on board such ship or aircraft; against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any State;
b) any act of voluntary participation in the operation of a ship or of an aircraft with knowledge of facts making it a pirate ship or aircraft;
c) any act inciting or of intentionally facilitating an act described in sub-paragraph (a) or (b).”
Of course there have been very many reported incidents of piracy off Somali coast constantly. It has contributed to increase in shipping costs and impeded shipments, delayed and threatened their delivery. Some precious life has also been lost in the water.

Powerful Nations have come together for preventing this grave crime and some were captured also. But the suspects arrested have had to be set free for lack of evidence. The nearby countries in Africa have exhibited reluctance to take on the burden of trials. In May 2010, a Yemeni court sentenced six Somali pirates to death and jailed six others for 10 years each for hijacking a Yemeni oil tanker and killing two cabin crew in April last year. Also in May 2010, another Somali, Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse, pleaded guilty in a New York federal court to seizing a US ship Maersk Alabama and kidnapping its captain last year. He is expected to be sentenced in October 2010. The first European trial of alleged Somali pirates opened in the Netherlands in May 2010. They were arrested in the Gulf of Aden in January 2009 when their high-speed boat was intercepted by a Danish frigate while allegedly preparing to board cargo ship Samanyolu registered in the Netherlands Antilles. The pirates were sentenced to five years in prison, which was less that the maximum possible sentence.
The case that occurred in Indian heartland is totally different. It was a coordinated action by the Indian Coast Guard and the Indian Navy which was a path-breaking and great effort of the Security forces in apprehending the vessel and capturing the pirates. This act in Oct 1999 was hailed all over the World by the maritime community.

The Director of the Maritime Piracy Center Captain Mukundan had this to say on the successful completion:- "The Alondra Rainbow case is a remarkable one because it is a perfect example of the unique role that the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre can play in this particular crime by issuing timely alerts to ships at sea. We were able to get masters of ships to look out for the vessel and to report back to us. And once we received information of a number of sightings we were able to go to the Sri Lankan authorities and to the Indian coastguards to tell them where to look for the ship," . The men were convicted for hijacking the Japanese-owned vessel, Alondra Rainbow off the coast of Indonesia in October 1999. The pirates were charged with setting the Alondra Rainbow's 17 crew members adrift on a raft, trying to scuttle the ship, attempting to set it on fire and committing armed robbery.


In Oct 1999, the vessel MV Alandra Rainbow flying a Panama flat carrying aluminum ingots worth 14 M USD went missing and crew were located off Phuket island. The Master of the vessel, a Japanese Master mariner filed a complaint with Thai Authorities stating that pirates had taken over the vessel by overpowering the crew. After few days of detention, the crew reportedly had been lowered to sea boats and allowed to drift.

A reward money of US$ 200,000 was announced and description with photos of the pirated vessels were flashed world over. MV Al Shuhaada reported sighting of a ship looking alike. The vessel had freshly been painted over as Mega Rama. The Coast Guard Ship CGS Tarabai gave it a chase, cross checked with many agencies including Owners and Lloyds and forced the pirates to shape towards Pakistan waters. The vessel was fired at by the Coast Guard Dornier aircraft as well by Tarabai. Indian Naval Ship INS Prahar joined the hunt, providing additional fire power.
By the time the pirates were captured, they had destroyed their passports and legal documents. The ship could be prevented from sinking and towed to Mumbai and case lodged with Yellow Gate PS at Mumbai.

The culmination of the legal phase had its own wrangles. It was a new occasion of capture of vessel and offenders in Indian waters. The owner was Japanese, part of crew were Indonesian and Philipinos. Offence had occurred in Indonesian waters and even the consignment of ingots were not destined to India. The Piracy Centre asked the Indian Coastguard to investigate and once the ship's identity was confirmed she was challenged. A high seas chase ensued before the ship was eventually boarded and taken to Mumbai where the pirate crew was arrested.

In 2003 after due process of law, the Mumbai Sessions Court accepted all the charges against the fifteen Pirates and awarded an imprisonment of seven years and a varying fine for all culprits. It appeared that perhaps the Director or other Mariners did not expect a turn around in the Mumbai High Court where an appeal was filed and the case progressed.   The court's decision marked a rare move by a National court to assume jurisdiction over a crime committed in international waters. According to IMB's director, Captain Pottengal Mukundan, the decision made a precedent which will help deter copycat crimes of piracy. On the day of the decision, there was bad news as Chief Engineer of a chemical tanker was shot in the head by pirates off the coast near Kuala Langsa in Indonesia. The Sessions court action was undertaken under Article 105 of the United Nations Convention on the Law Of the Sea (UNCLOS.

It was unfortunate for the maritime community and for the global anti piracy efforts that about two years later on 18th April 2005, the Mumbai High court overruled the Sessions Court ruling and acquitted all the accused. Thus, the most famous case that brought lots of laurels to the Maritime Forces of the Nation and also a case which was made out to be model case worthy of emulation by other Nations to combat Piracy and terrorism at sea came to a whimper.

There are not many experts in Admiralty and Maritime Law – though sections of Indian Penal Code could be applied to the offenders. Thus though the Sessions Court sentenced the offenders, they were subsequently let off after protracted battle in the Court. A good part of the loot could be saved and the culprits had also spent a portion of their sentence in Indian jails.

In one way, this was a major success and in some ways a set back to the anti piracy efforts. It has happened many times in Democracies, that the Laws are not stringent enough to punish the offenders even when caught red handed. This cannot be construed entirely as the failure of the various Agencies in properly making out a case and prove it in the High Court though there were organizational failures which resulted in the acquittal – dramatically the Japanese Master was perhaps unwilling to identify the culprits.

Common sense thinking would prevail that an offender must be penalized and the punishment must be stringent enough to deter others from performing it. But in practice, many a times, the Law Enforcement Agencies find it too difficult to prove the case and culprits walk out for want of identification and necessary evidence. The case highlighted the efficacy of the system or the lack of it ! The Police have their hands full with pretty crimes, providing security to Politicians and host of other jobs and perhaps do not have much time to concentrate on such cases.
Just as one see the piled up vehicles seized for various crimes accumulating dust, rusting and eventually turning into wreck, some captured boats also go down unceremoniously.

It is poetic justice that the delay in the Courts ensured that the pirates served 64 months prior to their deportation. From the Indian perspective, Alondra Rainbow / Mega Rama garnered International attention and held many lessons for the Indian authorities, highlighting the fact that the case is not over immediately upon apprehension.


Regards – S Sampathkumar.

PS : A major part of the news on capture of the vessel & the subsequent Court action  is from the write up of Commodore RS Vasan IN (Retd). This gentleman was the Regional Commander of College of Naval Warfare prior to his retirement. Do read the source article as it appeared in South Asia Analysis Group : http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/