A Portuguese warship seized explosives from suspected Somali pirates after thwarting an attack on a Norwegian oil tanker, a NATO spokesman said today.
It was the first time NATO forces found pirates armed with raw explosives, Lt-Cmdr Alexandre Santos Fernandes said from the Portuguese frigate the Corte-Real.
The four sticks of P4A dynamite which could be used for demolition and blasting through walls were destroyed along with four automatic rifles and nine rocket-propelled grenades also confiscated. It was unclear how the pirates planned to use the dynamite, Fernandes said.
The Corte-Real had sent a helicopter to investigate a distress call from the Norwegian-owned MV Kition yesterday about 100 miles (161 kilometers) north from the Somali coast in the Gulf of Aden.
The suspects fled to a larger pirate vessel, but were intercepted by the warship an hour later."The skiff had returned to the mothership," Fernandes said. " Portuguese special forces performed the boarding with no exchange of fire."
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The 19 pirate suspects were released, however, after consultation with Portuguese authorities because they had not attacked Portuguese property or citizens.