Pirates who are suspected to be Somali hijacked a German-owned ship Friday afternoon off the coast of the Gulf Arab state of Oman, outside their normal area of operations.

This is the first case of armed robbery outside the normal operations area of the pirates, said Alexandre Fernandes, a NATO Liutenant Commander, according to Reuters.

They are probably looking for other areas of operations where there are less patrols by warships, he added.

The ship owned by Tarmstedt International, was reportedly heading to Somalia, according to Fernandes. It is not known how many crew members were aboard.

Somalia Criminal Law