"Big Mouth" Arrested. Who Was He? (Maj3)
(BRUSSELS2) One of the most important players in piracy in Somalia, Mohamed Abdi Hassan was arrested on Saturday at Zaventem airport (Brussels), according to the daily De Standaard. Belgian federal prosecutor Johan Delmulle confirmed this during a press conference held this Monday (October 14) in Brussels.
A nice catch
Celui qui est surnommé Afweyne (grande gueule) a été attiré par… un projet de film sur sa vie. Un faux projet « monté » de toutes pièces par les spécialistes belges de la Sûreté. Les unités spéciales de la police de Bruxelles n’ont eu ensuite qu’à le cueillir, à sa descente d’avion en provenance de Nairobi. Il a été transféré vers la prison de Bruges où il devrait être jugé, en particulier pour le détournement du navire de dragage belge Pompei en avril 2009. Un autre homme, Mohamed M. Aden Tiiceey a également été arrêté. La chambre du conseil devrait se prononcer Tuesday, according to the Belga agency.
Le « business » d’Afweyne
A former civil servant from the Muduf region (central Somalia), Afweyne had a good idea. " He started in 2003 – testifies an anonymous person to UN investigators. Il m’a demandé d’investir 2000$. Il mendiait. Et me disait « j’ai vraiment une bonne idée de business. Je n’ai pas investi. Et je le regrette beaucoup aujourd’hui ! The United Nations experts describe him, in fact, in their report on Somalia, as one of the most influential in the network of pirates in the Hobyo-Harardheere area. " the Afweyne family succeeded by coopting members of the local community, mainly from the Habar Gidir Sallebaan sub-clan, through the redistribution of wealth ».
One of the most influential in the area
With his band, Mohamed Abdi Hassan then hijacked several ships. Besides the Pompei, we find his trace in the affair of the two Spanish logisticians from Médecins sans frontières, Montserrat Serra and Blanca Thiebaut, whom he had bought from the Shebabs (read: Hackers 'buy' 2 MSF hostages from Al-Shabaab). He and his son are credited with having hijacked the Indian Ocean Explorer and the German container ship Hansa Stavanger (April 2009), the British bulk carrier Ariadne (May 2009), the Spanish Basque fishing boat alakrana or the Chinese bulk carrier Xin Hai (October 2009), etc.
En voie de venir un « retraité » paisible
In fact, according to UN experts, he had already withdrawn for at least several years, “ day-to-day operations, leaving his son Abdiqadir to direct these operations ". However, he continued to profit from piracy, a business he had created, and “ dominated the local khat market ". He benefited from solid complicity at the local level. He had been in Interpol's sights for several months, even several years already. At the start of the year, he publicly announced that he was retiring from business, even wanting to devote himself to becoming an advisor to the Somali government to fight piracy (read: Latest piracy news (January 17).
Et un « notable » local
As for Tiicey, he is a local notable, governor of the Adado region. He was close to the pirates and had served as an intercessor during several cases of capture. He notably accompanied the three Syrian hostages from the MV Orna released in Mogadishu at the beginning of January in the company of Abdiqadir (Afweyne's son), explaining that they had been released without payment of ransom.
(paper completed Tue 15 and Wed 16 October)
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