Somali pirates on Sunday said they hijacked a Pakistan-owned ship even as France and the Seychelles nabbed 14 more suspects in the intensifying international hunt for high-seas bandits.The MV Al-Misan was captured on Friday around 100 kilometres off the capital Mogadishu, said Ahmed Abdi, a pirate commander in the coastal village of Harardhere. According to elders and traders in the region, the vessel was transporting vehicles and commodities such as sugar and cooking oil for Somali traders and had sailed from the United Arab Emirates.
"One of the two ships we hijacked ... is confirmed to have been chartered by Somali traders and there are already talks to release it. I think it will happen today," Ahmed Abdi told AFP by phone. One Somali trader with a stake in the hijacked ship's cargo said he was hopeful the vessel would be released soon.
"There are efforts to free the ship and its crew, Somali traders and elders are already negotiating with the pirates and we are hopeful that they will soon release it," Abdullahi Moalim Barre told AFP.
The Pakistani authorities said no ship was registered under the name MV Al-Misan.