Two Somali fishermen with big scarves around their heads to hide their faces looked around as they entered the room for a secret meeting to tell me why they had just decided to become gun-wielding criminals – demanding a million dollar ransom.
“You're free to record – you're welcome,” one tells me as they sit down nervously about a conversation that took months to set up in the small coastal town of Eyl.
This behavior is in stark contrast to the ferocity of the pirates who used to roam this picturesque, ancient port nestled in the arid mountains on Somalia's Indian Ocean coast.
It has always been considered strategic, not only because of its location but also because it has a source of fresh water – and during the boom of the early to mid 2000s pirates made it their base.
It is known as “Harunta Burcadda” – Capital of Pirates. From here, they targeted container ships transporting goods around the world and even oil tankers, forcing shipping companies to change their routes.
The regional authorities were powerless – and the local police were too afraid to enter the city.
Pirates kept their stolen ships offshore and local and regional businesses benefited from ransom payments. Between 2005 and 2012 the World Bank estimates gangs earned between $339m (£267m) and $413m.
But the pirates suffered a reversal of fortune when international ships began to patrol the seas from Somalia and these days the Puntland Maritime Police Force is based in Eyl.
Most of the people in this town have accepted this as the criminals come with a strange inflation, drugs, alcohol and a reputation that is shunned by the local Muslim women.
But the long-standing anger about foreign ships, especially fishermen, has not gone away in the fishing town that depends on the sea for its survival. To this day they blame these fishing boats for stealing their lives – often violently.
“The ships came and took all our belongings and belongings,” Farah, one of the fishermen-turned-criminals hiding behind his green scarf, told the BBC.
Both his name and that of his friend Diiriye, who is wrapped in a white handkerchief, have been changed – which is one of the conditions of our meeting.
He and several others had invested about $10,000 in a boat, outboard motor and net fishing business. But Farah says that last year the crew of a foreign ship came and stole the nets, along with their catch, and fired at the engine – destroying it.
The pair gave another example: some of their relatives had gone out to check their nets in the morning but never returned – usually a fisherman goes out at dawn and returns before the heat of the day.
After three days they were found, floating towards the shore.
“There were bullets on their bodies,” said Diiriye.
“They had no guns; they had gone to the sea with their nets to make a living.”
The Puntland Maritime Police Force is now based in Eyl [Hassan Lali / BBC]
Farah continues: “We work and live near the sea. The sea is our business.
“If someone threatens you and robs you, you are forced to fight. They fight. If they didn't take our property, we wouldn't have gone to war.”
These men – who are in their 30s – are not the only ones who made the decision last year to turn to burglary.
According to the European Union's naval force, Operation Atalanta, which patrols nearby, there were 26 pirate attacks between 2013 and 2019 – and none from 2020 to 2022. , figures up to December 5 show.
Most of these conflicts don't end in successful carjackings – but when they do, they pay off. Pirates say they have received a $5m ransom to release the Bangladesh-flagged MV Abdullah, which was hijacked in March 2024. The ship's owner has not confirmed this, but said it was released following negotiations.
Sources in Puntland province, where Eyl is located, told the BBC they estimate 10 gangs, each with 12 members, operate in the area.
They set out to sea for 15 to 30 days at a time, packing their small speedboats with AK-47s, rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), food and fuel.
“We use an RPG to stop the ship. If the ship does not stop, we shoot at it. We do not kill. The goal is to find something, not to kill “”, Source: Diiriye, Somali pirate , Source description: , Image: Diiriye, Somali pirate
Farah and Diiriye say their mission is to hijack a medium-sized ship deep in the Indian Ocean and bring it back to their ship, using their GPS tracking system to locate larger ships to target.
“You can attack ships using small speedboats,” said Farah.
Their Bazooka rocket launcher is also an important part of their strategy.
“We use an RPG to stop the ship. If the ship doesn't stop we shoot at it. We don't kill. The goal is to find something, not to kill. [The aim is] to scare them,” said Diiriye.
All these weapons are not cheap – so the gangs are looking for funding from interested investors. Disgruntled fishermen vented their feelings and a syndicate was formed which often involved different businessmen from Garowe and Bosaso towns.
One might sponsor boats, another for weapons and a third for fuel. These businessmen sometimes invest in several groups in the hope that one of them will hit the mud if the ship is captured to get a ransom.
And it's easy to get a gun in Somalia – even in Eyl you can pick up an AK-47 for around $1,200, a legacy of two decades of civil war and years of lawlessness.
Farah and Diiriye said they were not involved during the boom of the fleet and never took advice from retired pirates, some of whom started out as disgruntled fishermen.
Most of these old criminals have left the area – often abroad or converted.
In one famous case a former criminal – Abdirahman Bakeyle – donated his wealth. In 2020, he donated the houses and hotels he bought in Garowe to Muslim charities and is now an itinerant preacher who travels from town to town in Puntland encouraging people to live a hard and honest life.
Adado, a town in central Somalia where pirates once planted, earned the name “Blue City” because their newly built mansions often had blue-painted metal roofs.
Most of these houses are now empty – or available for rent for as little as $100 a month.
In Eyl, town elders say the main legacy of looting is the rise of alcohol, often smuggled in from Ethiopia, and drugs such as opioids – with concerns that some young men are already chewing the stimulant leaf khat, a popular afternoon game. being addicted.
Men gather outside teashops in the afternoons to play dominoes and discuss issues they say have nothing to do with piracy – although they understand the hostility towards foreign ships.
The recent incident of three fishermen being shot is clearly too many.
Ali Mursal Muse, who has been fishing for lobsters and sharks in Eyl for about 40 years to support his wife and 12 children, believes they may have been running into criminals – just like they did years ago.
“We left here with another fishing boat and went to sea. At the same time, pirates tried to hijack the ship. A plane arrived. My boat landed on the shore; another fishing boat was attacked,” he recalls.
Hawa Mohamed Zubery believes her fisherman husband crossed paths with a criminal – he has been missing for 14 years [Hassan Lali / BBC]
40-year-old widow Hawa Mohamed Zubery believes the same thing happened to her husband 14 years ago when he went missing.
At that time, rape was at its peak and she had just given birth to a son, whom they wanted to circumcise.
“My husband thought that if he caught a shark we could pay for the baby to be circumcised,” she told the BBC, clearly still worried about her death. He says he is struggling to pay his children's school fees as he lives by selling samosas.
Mr Muse says his biggest concern these days is the inappropriate behavior of fishing vessels from countries like Iran and Yemen who often steal his equipment.
He believes they are being given fake fishing licenses in Somalia by powerful local backers who provide them with gunmen to protect them. He accused them of looting the fish they had caught and crowded their fishing grounds.
“They have a place where they work until they reach the sea. When we go to ask for our tools, they shoot us. Recently they hurt other people. They shot a boy and injured his hand and leg.”
The fisherman says he has complained to the local authorities many times, but nothing has been done.
Puntland Minister of Information Caydid Dirir admits the presence of illegal vessels and says that some foreign vessels may be licensed and “abuse”.
“Illegal fishing exists in every ocean, and crime can happen anywhere. Progress is being made slowly,” he told the BBC.
Illegal fishing has been a controversial issue in Somalia for many years.
Many fishing vessels operate without licenses or with licenses issued by organizations without the authority to do so, according to the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime.
It cites evidence, including navigation satellite data, to show that most of the ships come from China, Iran, Yemen and southeast Asia. A report from the US embassy in Mogadishu suggests that Somalia loses $300m each year as a result.
Operation Atalanta Rear Admiral Manuel Alvargonzález Méndez says his forces only targeted pirate ships and now have to protect the ships from Yemen's Houthi rebels.
But he confirms that the area is safer and Somalis can now “cast their fishing nets without fear” – as does the Puntland Maritime Police Force, which works closely with the EU military mission.
The elders of Eyl do not want to see the return of the pirates [Hassan Lali / BBC]
Its commander Farhan Awil Hashi is adamant that there will be no return to the “bad old days” of looting.
He believes the long-term answer is to “create jobs”.
“Young people must find jobs, always. If someone is busy doing something, he will not think of going to sea and hijacking ships,” he told the BBC.
Farah and Diiriye make the same argument – they say that because fishing no longer pays, hijacking a boat to get a fine is the only way they can support their children.
They know robbing is wrong – and Diiriye admits she's too scared to tell her mother.
“If he had known, he would have been very disappointed. In fact, he would have reported it to the authorities.”
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