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Somali pirates freed hijacked Bangladesh-flagged cargo vessel MV Abdullah and its 23 crew early on Sunday after 32 days, reportedly on payment of ransom.

The ship is expected to reach Dubai on April 20 or 21, according to its owning company.

KSRM Group, the owner of the ship, negotiated a deal with the pirates, and the ship set off for the United Arab Emirates port of Dubai at 3:00am Sunday, Bangladesh time, KSRM deputy managing director Shahriar Jahan Rahat told a press conference on Sunday afternoon at their Agrabad corporate office in the port city.

‘We struck a deal with the pirates. All the crew  members are safe and secure. They have started for Dubai. And after the formalities, the crew will reach Bangladesh,’ he said, adding that they were not in public for the past month after the hijacking incident happened because the issue was sensitive.

‘We need to deal with the issue carefully, considering the security of the hostage crew. If the Somali pirates came to know about our details or any sensitive comments in the media, the issue could be more complicated to deal with,’ he said, without disclosing anything about the payment of ransom.

Quoting pirates, international media reported that $5 million was paid in ransom, and an aircraft dropped off the money near the ship. Pirates later collected the money, counted those, and left the ship.

MV Abdullah was hijacked by dozens of Somali pirates from the Indian Ocean and taken to the Somali coast on March 12 in a major escalation of piracy activities in the region.

Pirates attacked the MV Abdullah when it was headed for Al Hamriyah Port in the UAE, around 600 nautical miles off the Somali coast. It was carrying 58 thousand tonnes of coal from Mozambique’s Maputo port.

The ship owners got a short message on March 12 from the captain that the ship had been hijacked by armed pirates in the Indian Ocean.

Meherul Karim, CEO of KSRM, who mainly negotiated the deal and managed third parties, told the ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· that they were connected with international shipping regulators.

‘We will not disclose any information about the ransom. We have to follow all the rules and regulations of the UK, USA, and Kenya. After finalising the negotiation, we wanted video footage of all the crew members to make sure they were fine,’ he said.

In the early morning on Sunday, around 65 pirates got down and left the MV Abdullah by nine boats, he said, referring to the video.

‘The ship has started towards Dubai by this time. The crew members also carried a letter issued by Somali pirates written in the Somali language where it mentioned that the ship would not come under any other attacks by pirates,’ Meherul said.

‘Two Navy ships also scouted MV Abdullah... We will complete all the port permission and security issues before they reach and hope the ship will come to Chattogram port,’ he added.

This was the first Bangladeshi vessel to be captured in more than a decade, after pirates hijacked MV Jahan Moni, owned by the same company, in the Arabian Sea in December 2010 and took 25 sailors hostage, among others.

They were freed from the pirates two and a month later and brought back home.

Meherul said that the ‘Jahan Moni’ case had helped them deal with the ‘MV Abdullah’ incident, and they had started working to free the crew members from the very beginning.

‘The pirates called us when they reached the Somali coast. Among them, one could speak English and continue to communicate until the final negotiation.’

Meanwhile, Somali authorities arrested at least eight pirates who reached shore after releasing the hijacked Bangladeshi cargo ship MV Abdullah, reports Somalia’s online media, Garowe Online, on Sunday.

Quoting an unnamed high-ranking officer of the Puntland Police Force, the media reported that the police apprehended eight pirates on the East Coast of Puntland, confirming that they were members of the group responsible for the hijacking of MV Abdullah.

According to family members of the hostage crew, crew members said Somali pirates had received ransom money before freeing the hostage, and they also made a video before leaving the ship at 12:00am Somali time.

Fahmida Akter Anny, wife of Mohammed Abdur Rashid, Master of the MV Abdullah, said that she talked with her husband on Monday after he was freed by the pirates.

‘On Saturday afternoon, Somali time, preparation started. Through an aeroplane, three sacks of dollars were thrown to the sea, and after receiving the money, the pirates released all the hostages’ crews at midnight Bangladesh time,’ she told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· on Monday.

‘My husband was happy and said that an aeroplane had made three rounds after giving the money. During this time, many Somali pirates stood behind 23 crews. They also shot video to assure their safety,’ she said.