AHMEDABAD: It is now official: Somali sea pirates are being trained in Pakistan to carry out a proxy war against India. Though Indian security agencies had been hinting at a Pakistani link to Somali sea pirates since long, material evidence to support this assertion has only been recently recovered.

The evidence was obtained from nine foreign nationals caught from a hijacked Iranian vessel — MV Nafis-1, by the Indian Navy off Mumbai on August 14.

The vessel was brought to Porbandar on August 15 and those arrested — five Yemenis, two Tanzanians, one Kenyan and one Somali national — were handed over to Porbandar police.

Gujarat customs officials had seized a large quantity of food items from the vessel and also found rice packets and juice pouches bearing names of Pakistani companies. Gujarat customs officials also recovered two AK-47s, a pistol and a cache of foreign currency including $86,000 and 1,500 Saudi Riyal.

Officials seized bags full of tea leaves, which customs officials believe, were chewed by the pirates to stay awake.

"The guns have no label but the food items are packed and manufactured in Pakistan. Smugglers are not

generally found carrying such a large amount of foreign currency," said a senior customs official.

The fact that the foreigners were travelling in a low-speed merchant vessel unlike Somalian pirates who use high-speed boats, gave the arrested a benefit of doubt, said customs officials.

"We are taking help of foreign embassies to know if those arrested have a criminal record. We have three Arabic translators who are helping us. The arrested have confessed that they are smugglers and operate in Arabic countries, and were lost in waters before they were intercepted by Indian forces," said Dipen Bhadran, Porbandar superintendant of police.