Aden Sea Pirates Arrested in Less Than 24 Hours [Archives:1999/46/Front Page]

ADEN: Official sources confirmed yesterday the arrest of the 4 armed pirates who attacked an Australian family: Mr. Gary Tucker, his wife Mrs. Maria, and their children Monique, 9 and Martin, 6, last Friday noon while sailing on board their yacht Afroity-3, between Ahwar and Shabwa, 180km northeast of Aden. The government’s response to the situation was swift and strong in search for the attackers. In less than 24 hours, police forces were able to locate and arrest the pirates who belonged to Al-Mashariqa area in the Abyan province. All the stolen equipment were retrieved and handed to the family, which was received by the British Consul at the Aden Port on Friday evening. Yemeni authorities promised to repair the boat on their own expenses and vowed to speed up the trial of the pirates in one of the quick affairs courts. 
On Saturday, the family visited the Christ Church with the consul, where no journalists were allowed to enter. Later on the same day, the authorities hosted the family in one of the military resorts where they described the incident to reporters. Mrs. Tucker, who is from Crookwell, west of Sydney in New South Wales, said the family was sailing near the Aden coast when 5 pirates in a fishing boat stopped them, claiming they were policemen. After shooting at the yacht and coming aboard, the pirates robbed the family of almost all their belongings and money before leaving the boat. The family was later rescued by the Saudi oil tanker, Isra. 
Help came about one-and-a-half hours later, when the Isra located the yacht and towed it to the port of Aden. The next day after the incident, the family Yemen Times sources indicated that Mr. Tucker and his family will leave within a few days to Australia and the yacht will be sent to Europe for repairs. Security forces refused to allow journalists to take photos of or interview members of the family.
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