UK announces £6 million funding to tackle piracy

Britain says it will spend £6 million pounds to tackle piracy in the Indian Ocean.

Foreign Secretary William Hague says £5.3 million pounds of this amount will go toward a United Nations counter piracy agency. It will be used to increase prison capacity in Somalia and across the region to ensure that suspects are prosecuted and imprisoned.

The rest will fund improvements in maritime surveillance equipment for the Seychelles Coastguard. Hague said on Tuesday that with the funding, surveillance aircraft will be upgraded to take better quality video and photographs to be used as evidence in court cases.

He said about 820 Somali pirates are either serving sentences or awaiting trial around the world.