Jan. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Somali pirates failed in two attempts to seize a Greek tanker in the Gulf of Aden, Greece’s Merchant Marine Ministry said.

The European Union’s Atalanta mission fighting piracy off the Somali coast today dispatched a helicopter and a Spanish fighter plane, the ministry said in an e-mailed statement. The pirates were 10 nautical miles (11.5 miles) from the Kriti Episkopi tanker, which has six Greeks among its 29 crew, it said, without giving the nationality of the helicopter.

Yesterday, a French navy ship participating in Atalanta intercepted two speedboats heading for a Panamanian freighter and arrested their eight crew, President Nicolas Sarkozy’s office said.

The French gunboat L’Her seized arms, munitions, navigational aids and boarding gear from the two speedboats, the Elysée presidential palace said in a statement. The Elysee didn’t identify the Panamanian ship or its cargo. The pirates will be handed over to the authorities in the autonomous region of Puntland, said Bile Mohamoud Qabowsade, senior adviser to Puntland President Adde Muse.

“The French government contacted us and informed us that a group of Somali pirates were captured by a French warship in the Gulf of Aden,” Qabowsade said by phone from the commercial capital, Bosaso. “Our coast guards are now awaiting them at the coast and they will be taken into custody straight away.”

Suez Canal

Pirates operate along Somalia’s Indian Ocean coast, as well as in the Gulf of Aden, a transit point for the 20,000 ships a year that use the Suez Canal.

The United Nations Security Council voted 15-0 last month to allow naval forces in the area to “take all necessary measures” to fight pirates that have been attacking international shipping. Pirates seized at least 40 ships near Somalia in 2008.

The EU decided on Dec. 8 to deploy a force off Somalia, the 27-nation bloc’s first such mission, to join ships of other navies, some sent under North Atlantic Treaty Organization auspices.

To contact the reporter on this story: Natalie Weeks in Athens nweeks2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 2, 2009 08:23 EST