PUNTLAND — United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations raised its piracy threat level around the coast of Somalia to "substantial" after at least three vessels were targeted in hijackings off Puntland since April 20, 2026. The agency, which provides security information about trade routes to shipping firms, warned vessels to "transit with caution."

Three to four merchant ships are believed to have been captured near the Somali coast since April 20, 2026, with multiple tankers seized in quick succession. It is unclear which groups are responsible for the recent hijackings.

The European Union Naval Force was alerted by the Puntland Maritime Police Force of the hijacking of the fishing vessel Alkhary 2 on April 20, 2026. On April 22, the Puntland Maritime Police Force reported that the Alkhary 2 had been released and all crew members were safe.

On April 21, EUNAVFOR reported that the tanker Honour 25 had been seized off the Somali coast, loaded with approximately 18,000 barrels of oil. Six pirates targeted the vessel off the coast of Puntland. The Honour 25 had 17 crew members, including nationals from Pakistan, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. EUNAVFOR patrol assets surrounded the vessel, which is anchored between the fishing villages of Xaafuun and Bandarbeyla. On April 22, the Puntland Maritime Police Force reported that the Pirate Action Group remained on board.

On April 26, EUNAVFOR said it was monitoring the hijacking of the merchant vessel Sward. UKMTO reported that the Sward had been hijacked six nautical miles northeast of Garacad. The British maritime security group Vanguard said the Sward's 15-person crew comprised two Indian nationals and 13 Syrians. A vessel carrying cement and flying the flag of St Kitts and Nevis was hijacked off the coast of Garacad, Puntland, and is believed to be the Sward. The vessel had left Egypt for Mombasa, Kenya, and had nine armed pirates on board.

Piracy off the Somali coast escalated in the early to mid-2000s as the Somali government collapsed during the Somalia-Ethiopia war of 2006–2009. About 212 piracy attacks were recorded off the Somali coast in 2011. The World Bank estimated that between 2005 and 2012, ransoms from piracy off Somalia totalled between $339 million and $413 million, and that the annual economic impact on the global economy reached $18 billion at the height of the crisis.

From around 2009, an international coalition of NATO's Operation Ocean Shield, EUNAVFOR Operation Atalanta, the Combined Maritime Task Force, and Somali authorities began patrolling the waters off Somalia. The 47-country naval partnership reduced the number of piracy attacks. EUNAVFOR and Somali authorities continue to oversee antipiracy operations, though intermittent hijackings have continued since the mid-2000s, with several occurring in 2026. Since 2023, antipiracy patrols have been diverted to the Red Sea to counter attacks by Yemen-based Houthis in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Gulf of Aden with the Red Sea. Naval patrols of some nations that had helped contain piracy have also been diverted to escort ships trying to access the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran and the United States have blocked.