The Indian navy's warning was "firm" enough to prevent the hijacking of a ship in the Arabian Sea and its 21 crew members on Friday after a distress call. The intervention comes after India announced last month that it was deploying forces to the Arabian Sea to protect merchant ships, which have come under increasing attack since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.
"Indian navy commandos boarded the MV Lila Norfolk" in the Arabian Sea, and made sure "there were none of the illegal people" left on board, the Indian navy said at around 13 GMT.
Six hours earlier, the Indian Navy's navy had announced in a statement that it had "responded quickly to a maritime incident in the Arabian Sea involving an attempted hijacking on board a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier." Five or six "unknown armed persons" boarded the ship on Thursday night, the statement added. According to Indian media reports, about 15 Indian crew members were on board the ship, which is owned by Dubai-based Lila Global.
The Indian Navy did not say in its first statement who was in control of the ship at the time, but said that an air patrol on Friday morning had ensured the safety of its crew, and that INS Chennai, an Indian Navy destroyer, had immediately made its way to the ship at the first alert to rescue it.
Three warships deployed
It also reiterated its determination to "guarantee (the) security of the merchant marine in the region alongside its foreign partners and allied nations". In late December, India announced the deployment of three warships and a reconnaissance aircraft to the Arabian Sea after a series of attacks on merchant ships.
A chemical tanker, the MV Chem Pluto, which was sailing under the flag of Liberia, was hit last month off the coast of India by a drone, fired from Iran according to the United States, while Tehran denied any involvement. The incident followed a series of drone and missile attacks carried out in the Red Sea by Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels amid the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
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Attacks on shipping since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on Oct. 7 have prompted major shipping companies to redirect their ships to the southern tip of Africa, despite higher fuel costs for much longer voyages.
The United States announced on December 18 the formation of a coalition to defend maritime traffic in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, which has since joined some twenty countries including France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, Greece, Norway, the Netherlands and Bahrain.