Eleven suspected pirates who mistook a French naval vessel for a commercial ship and pursued it were handed over to the Kenyan authorities on Friday for trial, five days after arrest.

    The suspects approached the French frigate MV Nivose which is deployed by the European Union to guard and escort commercial ships in the pirates-infested waters off Somali coast, preparing for an attack but were shocked to discover it was a naval ship.

    As they prepared for a retreat, a helicopter was dispatched and soldiers on speedboats quickly surrounded and apprehended them.

    Speaking to journalists at the Mombasa port during the handing-over, Mombasa Port police chief Ayub Ali said the suspects, arrested on May 3, were armed and their weapons had also been confiscated.

    “We have in custody a rocket launcher, two AK47 rifles, two skiffs and a mother boat that will be used as evidence against them,” he said, adding that the suspects would be charged on Monday.

    Just two weeks ago, the same vessel brought in 11 more suspects who were charged with the offense in a Mombasa court.

    “It was probably about 600 miles from the coast of Somalia and we spotted them some 14 km away,” said a press officer from the vessel who did not want to be identified by his name.

    “We tried to change course and they followed us but by the timethey discovered they were following the wrong people, it was to late,” he said.

    With 53 suspects already being tried in Mombasa, the new arrival brings to 64 the total number of suspects who will be undergoing trial in the country.

    Ten others serving a seven-year jail sentence at the Shimo La Tewa prison have appealed against the sentence.

    Pirates have continued attacking and hijacking ships within the Somali waters in the Indian Ocean, despite the presence of international navies at the Gulf of Aden, resulting to increased freight insurance and some shipping lines avoiding the Red Sea route for the more expensive Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.

    Somali pirates have made away with millions of dollars in ransom payment and continued to demand more money in return for dozens of ships and overt 200 hostages they are still holding.

    Recently, they grabbed international headlines when they held Captain Richard Philips hostage for five days, demanding two million U.S. dollars, before three of them were shot dead

by U.S. marine snipers.

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