SEOUL (AP)– Five Somali pirates captured during a raid on a hijacked cargo ship in the Arabian Sea were brought Sunday to South Korea, where they could face up to life imprisonment, the coast guard said.

The men were arrested as South Korean commandos raided the South Korean-operated Samho Jewelry earlier this month, a week after pirates seized the freighter and its 21 crew members. The commandos rescued all crew members — eight South Koreans, two Indonesians and 11 Myanmar citizens — and killed eight Somali pirates.
None of the crew members was injured except for the South Korean captain, who was shot in the stomach by a pirate. The captain, Seok Hae-gyun, was brought to South Korea on Saturday night and had surgery for his wounds.
On Sunday, the five captured pirates arrived at Gimhae airport in the southeastern South Korean city of Busan and were quickly put into detention there, coast guard officer Eum Jin-kyung said.
Coast guard investigators subsequently began questioning the Somalis on charges that they hijacked the ship, requested a ransom and attempted to kill the captain, another coast guard officer Hahm Un-sik said. By South Korean law, the pirates — if convicted — could be sentenced to life in prison as a maximum penalty, Hahm said.