New details that have come to light reveal that the pirate mother ship that was used to hijack Malta-flagged merchant vessel MV Ruen on December 14 was itself an Iranian-flagged fishing vessel Al Ashkaan with 24 Pakistani crew members.
Al Ashkaan was hijacked earlier on November 29, 2023, near Socotra Island off the coast of Yemen and used for the subsequent act of piracy, as confirmed by at least two sources.
“Fishing vessel Al Ashkaan was hijacked by seven Somali pirates and taken to Somalia and later used to hijack Ruen. After that they set free Al Ashkaan, which asked other Iranian fishing vessels for fuel and supplies,” an official source said.
