As reported by AFP's Jean-Marc Mojon NAIROBI -- Somali pirates have freed three Seychellois who had been held hostage since their catamaran was hijacked in the Indian Ocean in February, the island nation’s government said in a statement.However the three men were being held at an airport in Somalia by the authorities of Puntland, who accused the Seychelles of swapping them for 23 suspected pirates repatriated over the weekend.“Conrad Andre, Gilbert Victor and Robin Samson are expected to be transferred from Somalia, and are awaiting a flight from Somalia to Seychelles,” the Seychelles said in a statement.Joel Morgan, the Seychelles minister for the environment, natural resources and transport, denied allegations that a swap took place.“The release of the Seychellois hostages is not related to the repatriation of the 23 Somali men this weekend. An exchange of Seychellois and Somalis did not take place,” Morgan said in the statement.“No money has been paid to the pirates by the government of the Seychelles,” Morgan also told AFP by phone, refusing to comment on whether any money had been paid by any other party.He said that 23 suspected Somali pirates intercepted in the Indian Ocean in recent months had been repatriated over the weekend because lack of evidence did not allow for prosecution in the Seychelles.The pirates were dropped off and the hostages picked up in Garaad, a coastal village in southern Puntland which is also one of the pirates’ main hubs.
Morgan told AFP that the 23 suspected pirates were flown back to a pirate village rather than to the authorities of Puntland for “cost-effectiveness reasons.”“We have had to bear the full cost of repatriation... The port of Garaad was the easy point of drop-off and where we were picking up our people,” he explained.
Morgan told AFP that the 23 suspected pirates were flown back to a pirate village rather than to the authorities of Puntland for “cost-effectiveness reasons.”“We have had to bear the full cost of repatriation... The port of Garaad was the easy point of drop-off and where we were picking up our people,” he explained.
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