Somali pirate king-pin 'Afweyne' retires
2013-01-10 13:54
Mogadishu - One of Somalia's most notorious pirate leaders
who terrorised vast areas of the Indian Ocean, generating multi-million dollar
ransoms from the ships he seized, has announced his retirement.
"After being in piracy for eight years, I have decided
to renounce and quit, and from today on I will not be involved in this gang
activity," Mohamed Abdi Hassan, known as "Afweyne" or "big
mouth", told reporters late on Wednesday.
Last year he was described as "one of the most
notorious and influential leaders" in Somalia's pirate-hub region of
Hobyo, in a report by the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea.
His men were reportedly involved in the 2009 capture of the
MV Faina, a Ukrainian transport ship carrying 33 refurbished Soviet-era T-72
battle tanks, and which was released after a 134-hijack for a reported three
million dollars.
He was also reported to be involved in the 2008 capture of
the Saudi-owned Sirius Star supertanker, also released for a ransom of several
million dollars.
Afweyne did not provide a reason for his change of craft,
but speaking at a ceremony in the central Somali region of Adado, he said he
has also been working to persuade other pirates to follow his example to quit
sea banditry.
"I have also been encouraging many of my colleagues to
renounce piracy too, and they have done it," Afweyne said.
Somalia has been ravaged by a relentless conflict since
1991, and a lack of effective central authority has allowed pirate gangs, extremist
militia and other armed groups to control mini-fiefdoms.
However, piracy attacks off the coast of Somalia have
plummeted to a three-year low thanks to beefed up naval patrols.
