A Danish warship boarded a pirate supply vessel off the coast of Somalia, captured six suspected pirates and then sank the ship, Denmark's navy said on Wednesday.The suspects were later put ashore on an inhospitable coast, a Danish naval command front man said.
"They had not committed anything criminal at sea -- they were just on the wrong boat, with the wrong gear at the wrong time," front man Kenneth Nielsen said. "They had equipment on board that could be used in piracy."
The boat was seized on Tuesday by the navy's Esbern Snarre vessel during a NATO patrol along Somalia's east coast, the naval command said in a statement.
The Danish crew confiscated a small number of weapons and a large amount of fuel before setting explosives to the boat and scuttling it, the navy said.
"There is a very strong mandate from the UN so that international navies can confiscate and destroy equipment related to piracy," Nielsen said.
The captured supply boat was larger than the skiffs commonly used by pirates in raids so it could operate far from the coast, he said.
"Scuppering this vessel ... prevents them from conducting piracy in the middle of the Indian Ocean where it is difficult to find suspected pirates," Nielsen added.