Detention of a group of high-speed ‘Scythians’.

So, on December 20, 2013, a message from a civilian vessel on a group of suspicious high-speed ‘Scythians’ (traditional type of Dutch small-size sailing vessel) was received on 16 radio channels.

The ship’s helicopter explored the area and within the course of 50 minutes from 09.03 to 09.54, eight ‘Scythians’ were identified successively, which, at a speed of up to 29 knots, divided into 3 groups, attempted to break away from persecution in the northern direction, the signals and demands did not react. The joint operations of the ship and helicopter two groups were stopped. The ship at its maximum speed approached the closest group, which, together with the caring team, took off to the second group under the control of the helicopter. After combining the two groups into a compact group of 5 ‘Scythians’, the ship installed control over them. The helicopter and the care team were sent to the third group, which was taken under control and guided by the ‘Villards’ with the care team on her, which led her to the rest of the ‘Scythians’ and started the care.

7 ‘Scythians’ of eight were detained and examined. Flag of Yemen. Signs of piracy were not detected. However, a number of factors have been recorded that may indicate illegal activities of another group.
The persecution and delay lasted 1 hour 40 minutes, a survey of suspicious ‘Scythians’ – 1 hour and 10 minutes. The features of this case were a large number of ‘Scythians’ – 8 units, their high speed – 20-30 knots, an attempt to avoid persecution by dividing into separate groups.
The success of the arrest of suspicious ‘Scythians’ was made possible by the correct distribution of contingent forces in groups of suspicious vessels, confident in the actions of the helicopter crew when stopping and controlling suspicious ‘Scythians’ and the clear interaction of the ship-helicopter-care team.

Search and Suspense of Suspicious Vessels in a Large Area.

On November 17, 2013, at 15.05, a message was received from a civilian vessel about two suspect ‘Scythian’ ships at a distance of 11 and 13 miles from the ship. The ‘Scythians’ were moving in opposite directions: one to the north, the other to the south-east.

The ship was in a drift. Startup of the main engines started with receipt of the message. After 8 minutes, a move was made. At 15.20 the course progressed to 27 knots. At 15.15 the contact of a civilian ship with the ‘Scythians’ was lost.
A decision has been made to search suspicious vessels ‘on call’. Two search areas are defined. As a result of alerting civilian ships in the security corridor, another vessel reported the Scythian, moving in the northern direction.
The suspicious vessel (Daeu number 1) was detected by radar vehicles at a distance of 86 kb. The helicopter target is classified as Yaume Yaum type. After that, the helicopter began searching in area number 2, where he also discovered a similar type. Dao’s crew cooperated with the national contingent, stopped at the first requirements and gave permission for inspection.
About 16.37 helicopter found Dae number 2 at a distance from the ship 15 miles. At 17.06 a review of Daeu number 1 is completed. Signs of piracy were not detected. Flag of Yemen.
Given that according to the helicopter, suspicious signs on Dae number 2 were not detected, Dao number 2 is completely analogous to the dau that was inspected and located over a long distance, it was decided not to inspect it.

The peculiarities of this case were a relatively large area of ​​search of suspicious vessels of 25 to 10 miles, the lack of baseline data on suspicious vessels and a relatively long distance of the ship from the search area.

The success of the search for suspicious vessels became possible due to the right decision to search, close cooperation with civilian vessels and maintenance of the high readiness of the contingent.

Disposal of Pirate Group.

On November 17, 2013, a vessel of the type ‘Scythian’ was found radar and visually on a distance of 60 cab, moving at a speed of 28 high schools. On a distance of 40 cab ‘Scythian’ turned away from the ship. Contact was lost.

The ship was in a drift. 20 minutes after the discovery was given a move, persecution began. Noted civilian ships in the security corridor. One of them provided information about the suspicious ‘Scythian.’ After 40 minutes, the target was re-discovered. ‘Scythian’ does not respond to audible signals and signaling missiles, on requests for radius – does not answer. Tries to break away from the ship. The suspicious ‘Scythian’ was stopped by a helicopter after a military event was set up. After stopping at the ‘Scythian’ began to throw overboard weapons and accessories. The video recorded a dumping of up to 5 automatic machines and, probably, one RPG. After exploration of the ‘Scythian’ from the helicopter and the optical means of the ship began its review. The review lasted more than 3 hours. No documents on the ship, the crew – ethnic Somali, 8 people, two powerful hinged engines, excessive fuel supply. Photographed and removed biometric data, seized mobile phones, notepad with phone numbers, GPS navigator. After being convinced that there are no weapons and tools for piracy, available fuel supplies allow them to return to Somalia (160 miles south), the Scythians were released on the tactical commander’s permission.

The conducted analysis of the content of mobile phones and notebook showed:
 – availability of mobile phone numbers for UK and US mobile operators;
 – the presence of SMS-messages from mobile banking about banking operations in the amount from 1000 to 30 thousand dollars;
 – pictures of coastal camp of pirates with a lot of weapons.
Deleted materials passed to the commander of the tactical group. Interpol processing, especially phones and a notebook, confirmed the involvement of the ‘Scythian’ in one of the pirate groups. Two of the crew of this ‘Scythian’ were detained in Somalia in December 2013.
The peculiarity of this case was that the detained group was well armed and involved in piracy activities.

The success of the arrest of a suspect ‘Scythian’ was made possible by:
 – clear actions and initiative of contract servicemen – a radiometer and signalist who jointly discovered a suspicious long-distance Scythian, as well as a cyberphone, who directly worked with remote telephones and received valuable information;
 – Confident and concerted actions of the whole contingent, especially the helicopter crew, who demonstrated determination of intentions and forced to stop the suspicious ‘Scythian’ without the use of weapons;
 – clear actions of the documenting group, especially the correspondent of the campaign, who recorded the fact of dropping weapons overboard, filmed and photographed the whole process of prosecution and detention of a suspect vessel;
 – high level of preparation of the supervisory group and qualitative removal of biometric data, which made it possible to identify the group as being involved with pirates and, in the future, to delay two of them.

In addition, local transportation and fishing are carried out by vessels of the traditional local type – ‘da’. Up to 5 such vessels were detected per day. Basically, it is an Indian large cargo and Yemeni medium fishing dow.
Often dau is not even registered in IMO. In fact, their activities are not controlled. As a rule, their crews are armed with 2-3 automatic self-defense vehicles. Separate cases of presence of Somali armed guards on their board were noted.
Another type of local vessel is the ‘Scythian’, they are small and are mainly used for fishing. It is noted that they are located in the sea at a distance of 50-60 miles from the coast. The feature of these vehicles is a very high speed – up to 30 knots. ‘Scythians’ are used for pirate attacks, and dao, as uterine vessels (bases), bearers of the ‘Scythians’.