Somali pirates  robbed three Thai fishing ships with 77 sailors on board nearly l, 200 Miles off the Somali coast, the farthest-off-shore attack to date, an officer said Tuesday. Pirates have gone farther south and east in answer to increased patrols by warships off the Somali shore. The robbing of the three ships Sunday was about 600 miles outside the normal operation area for the international force, said a spokesman. The spokesman said the attack so far out at sea was a clear sign that the international patrols against pirates were having a "marked effect on pirate activity in the area". "Once they start attacking that far out, you're not even really talking about the Somali basin or areas of water that have any connection with Somalia," said an officer, Roger Middleton. "Once you're that far out, it's just the Indian Ocean, and it means you're looking at trade going from the Gulf to Asia, from Asia to South Africa. " "This is the farthest robbing to date. They are now operating near the Maldives and India," said another officer. The three ships--the MV Prantalay 11, 12, and l 4--had 77 members on board in total. All of them are Thai, the spokesman said. Before the Sunday robbing, pirates held l l ships and 228 sailors. Pirates have increased attacks over the past year in hopes. of catching more dollar payments. Because of increased patrols and defenses on board ships, the success rate has gone down, though the number of successful attacks has stayed the same year over year. The pirate attack reported in the text happened   _  .
far out in the Indian Ocean in the normal patrol area near the Somali, coast in the south of Africa