According to India Today, on the evening of January 4, 2024, a group of pirates, presumably Somali, boarded the merchant ship Lila Norfolk while it was sailing in the Arabian Sea. The Indian Navy's INS Chennai unit promptly intervened. Local sources confirm that the unit eliminated all the hijackers and secured the ship. All twenty-one crew members are free. The ship is now monitored by the Indian military aviation.
The Lila Norfolk, with Liberian flag, departed from the Brazilian port of Port Du Aco heading towards Khalifa Bin Salman port in Bahrain. According an Indian Navy statement, the pirate assault occurred 300 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia. During the boarding, the merchant ship's crew alerted the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations portal that armed men were boarding the vessel.
The INS Chennai, a long-range Predator MQ9B drone and a P-8I patrol aircraft were promptly dispatched to the location. The military unit intercepted the Lila Norfolk in the early afternoon of January 5, 2024, and deployed a commando team from the special unit Marcos, who neutralized the attackers and secured the entire ship. The Indian Navy operates in the central Arabian Sea area to escort merchant ships in transit, with a task force comprising frigates, destroyers, maritime patrol aircraft, and drones.
