A Mumbai sessions court on Tuesday sentenced to 7 years in prison 14 of the 15 Indonesian pirates who were nabbed by the Coast Guard and navy for venturing into Indian waters and firing on them on November 21, 1999.

They were also fined Rs28,000 each, in default of which they would have to spend another 6 months in jail.

The accused were charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, such as 395 for dacoity, 397 for robbery with weapons, 307 for attempt to murder and 465 for cheating with mala fide intention. They were also charged under various sections of the Indian Passport Act and the Indian Admiralty Act.

The pirates, one of whom died in prison, claimed that they were on Megha Rama, a merchant navy vessel. The ship left Manila, the Philippines, on November 2, 1999, for Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, carrying 7,000 tonnes of aluminium ingots, they said.

They said they didn't know they were boarding a vessel, earlier called Alandro Rainbow, which had been hijacked on October 22, 1999. The pirates claimed that the company that hired them to deliver the consignment to Dubai had cheated them.

"They are innocent people. They were just given a job to do and they were doing their job of dropping the consignments. They don't have any criminal records," defence counsel Santosh Deshpande had stated in his argument to Judge R R Vaccha.

Sitting on the platform for the accused, all 14 looked clueless as to what was going on, as they could not understand English or any Indian language. They only knew Bahasa Indonesia.

According to the prosecution, the entire bunch hijacked the Alandro Rainbow somewhere between Milke in Japan, from where it set sail, and Indonesia. They planned to sell the ingots, worth Rs440 million, in Karachi, Pakistan.

Public prosecutor Pradeep D Gharat further said, "All the 15 arrested had fired at Indian Coast Guard and naval vessels at 300 nautical miles from Mumbai. When they were told to surrender, they tried to sink the ship by opening the chest valve. But navy divers took timely action and sealed the valve before it could sink."

The Japanese captain of the vessel, Ko-Ikeno, had come to Mumbai and was among the witnesses.

According to the defence counsel, the Japanese captain did not recognise any of the accused, saying it was dark when his vessel was hijacked. Moreover, the pirates were wearing masks and they blindfolded Ko-Ikeno and the crew.

Those convicted are Christianus Aeros Mintadoa, Eka Dharma Estafanus Homiang, Harson Homian, Frans Junus Umboh, Dandung Ari, Burhan Nanda, Erick Prathama, Dennis Supandi, Christo Matias Goha, Peither Randa Buengg, Johan Kanthohe, Devidwandra Parta, Richardo John, and Imbron Rossadi. Anton Yenes Albarto Yenes died in custody.

Some people are also absconding. They are Yan Yance Makatengkena, Range, Marnez Sachawarus, Boss [name not known], Ating Ting, and 21 others. They are believed to have disembarked from the ship at an earlier port.