KUALA LUMPUR: Three Somalian men were jailed ten years and another four jailed eight years by the Sessions Court today after pleading guilty to shooting at Malaysian commandos off the Gulf of Aden two years ago.
Ahmed Othman Jamal, 30, Abdil Eid Hasan, 22, and Abdi Hakim Mohd Abdi, 22, were sentenced to ten years jail after they pleaded guilty to discharging firearms against members of the Malaysian Armed Forces to avoid being detained by them.
They committed the offence on board the Bunga Laurel vessel, located 402.34 nautical kilometres (250 nautical miles) from Oman, between 8.10pm and 10pm on Jan 20, 2011.
Another four Somalian men, whose names the prosecution requested be withheld due to them being underaged at the time of the offence, were jailed eight years for committing the same offence.
All seven accused were initially charged under Section 3 of the Firearms (Increased Penalties) Act 1971 which carried the death sentence. However today they pleaded guilty to an amended alternative charge under Section 32(1)(a) of the Arms Act 1960 which carries either a penalty of life imprisonment or maximum 14 years jail.
Judge Datuk Mohd Azman Husin ordered their jail sentences to run from the date of arrest on Jan 20, 2011.
The Operations Dawn 9: Gulf of Aden (Malay: Operasi Fajar 9)[2] was a naval operation carried out by the Royal Malaysian Navy against Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea on January 20, 2011. In the response, the Malaysian Shipborne Protection Team sent an attack helicopter and 14 naval counter-terrorism group PASKAL in the two RHIB boats to retake the vessel and rescue the crew. After one night trailing the tanker, the Malaysian forces successfully retook the ship by force on January 20, 2011, resulting in the wounding of three pirates, capture of four out of eighteen pirates and all 23 vessel crewmembers rescued.
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