Muslim leaders and police in Kenya warned yesterday that the country was becoming a “dumping ground” for Somali pirates after the United States handed over 17 suspects captured in the Gulf of Aden.

The men, who were charged with piracy by Kenyan prosecutors, bring to more than 100 the number of suspected pirates being held by the authorities in Mombasa.

Confusion has continued over the correct legal procedures to try pirates captured by foreign navies, as underlined in France, where suspected pirates are challenging the jurisdiction of courts to try them.

Britain warned its Navy not to take pirates on board for fear that they could try to claim asylum — as those in Dutch custody did last year — until striking a deal to hand them over to authorities in Kenya. Royal Marine commandos handed over eight suspected pirates to Kenya in November after they were captured in a joint operation by Russian and British warships. The United States and some other European countries have also struck their own arrangements.

But authorities in Mombasa have said that the sheer number of pirates detained there threatens to overwhelm their prisons and is clogging up their already painfully slow courts. Only ten of the 111 pirates in Kenyan custody have been convicted and are serving jail terms.

“At the high rate at which they are being arrested and handed over to us, transferring the cases to Nairobi might be the only option remaining,” Sebson Wandera, a police officer, said.

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