Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- The man accused by the U.S. of hijacking the container ship Alabama Maersk off the coast of Somalia, Abduwali Muse, took part in two earlier pirate attacks, according to a new indictment against him filed today.

Muse was charged May 19 by a federal grand jury on a 10- count indictment accusing him of crimes including piracy and violence against maritime navigation. He faces mandatory life imprisonment if convicted.

Muse, who previously pleaded not guilty to piracy charges in federal court in New York, today pleaded not guilty to the expanded indictment through an interpreter. He was arrested in April after U.S. Navy commandos freed an American captain of a cargo ship held by pirates off the Horn of Africa and has been jailed in Manhattan.

“Muse is alleged to have led the hostage-taking of crew members, threatened them with firearms and in at least one instance, an improvised explosive device,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan McGuire today told U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska in Manhattan.

The U.S. said in the new indictment that Muse and others hijacked two other ships before the Maersk Alabama, the second of which is still being held hostage since it was seized in April.

Prosecutors say Muse was the leader of the group of pirates who overtook the Maersk Alabama on April 8 and held its captain captive for five days. He was the first pirate to board the ship, fired at the captain from the deck, forced Captain Richard Phillips to stop the ship, and demanded that he hand over $30,000 from the ship’s safe, according to court papers, which recount statements made by Phillips.

The group subsequently kept the captain in a lifeboat off the Somali coast.

AK-47

Muse, who prosecutors say was armed with an AK-47 assault rifle, was taken aboard the USS Bainbridge for treatment of his injured arm and was apprehended by U.S. sailors when Navy snipers shot dead the three kidnappers in the lifeboat, the military said.

He was transferred to the custody of the FBI, which brought him to New York on April 20.

Prosecutors allege that in March, Muse and others boarded an unidentified ship in the Indian Ocean armed with weapons and took hostages. Muse is accused of threatening to kill everyone aboard with an improvised explosive device if the authorities came.

Two Other Ships

In April, the U.S. says, Muse and others left the first ship on a small boat and met a second unidentified ship that was also in the area. That second ship, which authorities didn’t identify, remains under control of pirates, prosecutors said.

Muse and three others left that second ship and boarded the Maersk Alabama. Muse was charged with new counts of piracy, conspiracy, kidnapping and other counts.

His age has been in dispute since his arrest, with his lawyers contending that he is under 15 years of age.

“We will be filing papers,” Fiona Doherty, a lawyer for Muse, said after court today. She said Muse’s legal team intend to seek to have statements he made to the U.S. Navy after his arrest declared off-limits as evidence and ask that he not be tried as an adult.

McGuire said in court today that Muse told one of his hostages that he was 24 years old.

The case is U.S. v. Muse, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

To contact the reporter on this story: Patricia Hurtado in New York federal court at pathurtado@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 12, 2010 20:19 EST