Maritime threat level off Somalia raised to "significant" after recent pirate attacks

The Joint Maritime Information Centre JMIC has elevated the maritime threat level off Somalia to "significant" following several reported pirate attacks in recent days, marking the first such incidents in months. The JMIC, managed by the Combined Maritime Forces CMF, an international maritime coalition of 47 countries, stated in its latest bulletin that a pirate group appears to be active in the Somali Basin. The most recent event involved pirates taking control of a cargo ship off Somalia's northeast coast. The "significant" threat level, the third highest on JMIC's five-tier scale, indicates a high possibility of attack. The UK Maritime Trade Operations UKMTO also reported increased threats, including individuals seizing a cargo ship six nautical miles from Garacad port on Sunday. The previous day, UKMTO noted the hijacking of an oil tanker on April 21, approximately 45 nautical miles off the Somali coast. On April 23, UKMTO reported that a cargo ship's crew deterred armed men approaching in two small boats 83 nautical miles off the northeast coast. In its weekly dashboard for April 6-12, the JMIC had considered the pirate threat in the Somali Basin to be "low," with no confirmed active pirate groups. The last incident recorded by JMIC in this area was an attempted pirate attack on an oil tanker on November 7, 2025. Piracy off Somalia had significantly decreased after a peak in 2011, largely due to the deployment of international military vessels, the establishment of an EU