The French Defense Ministry claims one of its frigates has seized 35 pirates, four "mother ships" and six skiffs in various sweeps off the coast of Somalia.
The arrests were made over the past three days in one of the most vital and busiest shipping lanes in the world, the ministry said in a statement issued on Sunday.
France said it was "the biggest seizure" since European Union navies started patrolling the Gulf of Aden and the western Indian Ocean in December 2008 to put an end to the spate of ship hijackings in the region.
The challenge, of course, is how to try the bastards. And Kenya is becoming a more difficult destination due to their peculiar legal system.
The Somalis were arrested in February 2009 in the Gulf of Aden by the US Navy after a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker, Polaris, sent a distress call that they were being attacked by the seven men in a skiff.
But the crew of the Polaris had thwarted the attackers' attempt to board their vessel, throwing off their ladder.
The guided missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf intercepted the Somali men and brought them to Kenya for trial in March 2009.
They are among more than 100 Somalis piracy suspects handed over to the Kenyan authorities for for trial under arrangements with the United States, the European Union, Britain and other states.
Kenya is the first country in the region to have tried pirates captured outside its waters, although the Seychelles is expected to follow.
But the cases have faced hurdles.
Apart from jurisdictional disputes there are fears that the defendants cannot be guaranteed a fair trial.
Critics point to a lack of credible evidence, the unavailability of prosecution witnesses, language barriers and disparities in the legal standards of the states involved.
For instance, statements taken by the US officers who arrested the suspected pirates were a summary of events: but in Kenya trials rely on detailed narrative statements.
Kenyan law also stipulates that suspects must be brought to court within 24 hours after arrest: but the Somalis were taken to court nearly a month later.
By: Brant
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