MOGADISHU, Oct 23: The French navy has arrested eight suspected pirates and handed them over to authorities in the breakaway Somali region of Puntland, regional officials said on Thursday.

French marines in the Gulf of Aden arrested the men when their patrol intercepted two boats on Wednesday, Puntland presidential adviser Bile Mohamoud Qabowsade said.

“French officials onboard a warship off Somalia waters handed over eight suspected pirates to the Puntland administration today,” he said.

Puntland’s deputy fisheries minister Abdukadir Muse Yusuf said: “The pirates were on board two small boats when the French military arrested them.

They dropped all their weapons in the water before they were caught.” France launched a rescue operation to free a French luxury yacht, Le Ponant, and its 30 crew on April 11, and in September dispatched commandos to release a a French couple seized by pirates.—AFP