Eight suspected Somali pirates who were seized by Royal Marine commandos in a high seas exchange of gunfire off Somalia last week have been handed over to the Kenyan police.

Negotiations have been underway with the Kenyan authorities ever since the incident on November 11 when commandos from the Royal Navy frigate, HMS Cumberland, confronted the pirates who had earlier tried to hijack a Danish cargo vessel, the MV Powerful.

Three pirates were killed after the Marines opened fire in self-defence when there was a burst of gunfire from a dhow which had been involved in the incident with the Danish vessel.

The surviving suspects were transferred to a Royal Fleet Auxiliary support ship, Wave Knight which had been accompanying HMS Cumberland.

After the Kenyan authorities agreed to take the suspects and prosecute them, Wave Knight sailed to Kenya and yesterday docked in Mombasa where the suspects were handed over to the Kenyan police.

Bob Ainsworth, the Armed Forces Minister, said: “I am pleased to announce that earlier today, the Royal Navy successfully completed a counter-piracy operation by handing over to the custody of the Kenyan police eight suspected pirates interdicted on November 11 during an incident at sea.”

Times Recommends

• 'New York has lost its edge'
• Copenhagen will fail – and quite right too
• More than 17,000 new underwater species found