Speaking to the BBC, three Puntland security officials separately identified the craft hijacked on Friday as a tanker named MT Astana.

They added that it was seized by seven gunmen who had set off from a remote area near the Puntland port town of Garacad before making their way to the Gulf of Aden.

The MT Astana, sailing under a Tanzanian flag, was en route to the port of Bosaso in Puntland, when it was boarded 65 nautical miles off Yemen.

Whereas the Indian Ocean is heavily patrolled by the European Union Naval Force, which oversees anti-piracy operations in Somalia, the Gulf of Aden is more lightly protected.

According to the Puntland officials, this could explain why it has now become an area of operation for the pirates.