On October 13, 2009, a helicopter from the EU NAVFOR German warship Bremen, identified suspected pirate craft in the Somali Basin. The suspect craft were made up of a mother skiff and two smaller skiffs, near the islands of Seychelles.
The EU NAVFOR helicopter fired warning shots and the skiffs stopped. The crew from the helicopter observed that the suspected pirates threw a number of items over board. A boarding party from the German warship found on the skiff grappling hooks, ammunition, GPS and 10 barrels of fuel. The skiffs had no fishing equipment onboard and after confiscating the suspected pirate equipment the mother skiff and crew were released.