Two suspected Somali pirates are guarded by a Kenyan policeman (C) in the port city of Mombasa, east Kenya, on June 8, 2009. The Swedish Navy on Monday handed over to Kenya seven suspected pirates who were arrested on May 26 as they attacked a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden. [Xinhua]

The Swedish Navy have handed over to Kenya seven suspected Somali pirates arrested in the Gulf of Aden.

Kenya's authorities said the pirates who were handed over to the police on Monday night in Mombasa will be arraigned in the coastal town of Malindi court this week due to congestion at the Mombasa courts.

The suspects landed in Mombasa aboard a chartered plane from Djibouti because the sea off Somali coast is currently rough, Mombasa Port police chief Ayub Ali said.

"They were arrested as they attacked a vessel, MV Antonis, while armed with Rocket Propelled Grenades, AK 47 rifles and pistols," he said, adding that when the suspects discovered they had been cornered they threw some of the weapons into the ocean.

The handing over of the suspects brings the number of those being tried in the country to 81. "Due to the high number of suspects under trial in Mombasa these ones will have to be transferred to Malindi to be charged on Tuesday, Ali said.

The suspects, who looked jovial, were dressed in blue overalls and although the police could not confirm the reports, Kenya police are expected to receive eleven more suspects either today or tomorrow.

"These suspects are part of the 17 who were arrested in the Gulf of Aden and we expect the rest soon," said a police officer who declined to be named.

A month ago, 11 suspects who mistook a French naval vessel for a commercial ship and tried to attack it were charged with the offence in Mombasa.

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

Sweden has had three corvettes and 152 personnel patrolling the Gulf of Aden since May 15 as part of a European Union force, which is running an anti-piracy naval mission off Somalia.

Pirates have continued attacking commercial ships in the Indian Ocean off Somali waters despite the presence of navies deployed by the international community.

(Xinhua News Agency June 10, 2009)