Beginning in the early 2000s, continued unrest and civil war in Somalia led to pirates boarding merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden to extort lucrative ransoms. Royal Canadian Navy warships were among the international forces that patrolled those waters to eliminate piracy. Canadian personnel from HMCS Winnipeg seized this weapon from Somali pirates on May 24, 2009.

Handgun captured from pirates off the coast of Somalia
Canadian War Museum 20120155-015

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