An infamous Somali pirate was arrested after being fooled by Belgian authorities to travel to Brussels and sign a deal for a fake documentary covering his life at sea, Yahoo! reported.
Federal prosecutor Johan Delmulle said on Monday that Mohamed Abdi Hassan, also known as "Afweyne" or "Big Mouth," was detained after arriving at Brussels airport from a Nairobi flight and is being held in Bruges.
Afweyne and his accomplice, Mohamed Aden "Tiiceey" -- the former governor of Somalia's Himan and Heeb statelet -- are facing kidnapping, piracy, and organized crime charges according to Delmulle's statement.
The charges against both men follow a 2009 capture of a Belgian ship, the Pompei, stolen 700 miles offshore from Somalia and held by pirates near their coast for 70 days. The nine crew members, including two Belgian officers and the Dutch captain, lived in extremely poor conditions until a ransom note was dropped by parachute.
In January, Afweyne announced in Mogadishu that he was quitting his pirate career after eight years in the business and said he was working to convince other pirates to do the same. A report by the United Nations referred to him as a lynch-pin of the piracy industry, making money off of merchant vessels between 2008 and 2013.
Two of the pirates were convicted following an investigation, one of which received 10 years in prison in 2011 while the other got nine years in 2012.
After sorting through evidence and interviewing crew members who were victimized on the Pompei, investigators believed Afweyne was "behind this act of piracy, who ordered, financed and organised logistical backup," the prosecutor said.
Delmulle added that police "elaborated an infiltration operation aimed at arresting Afweyne outside of Somalia," since he rarely left his home country.
"The plan was to approach Afweyne through the intermediary of his accomplice named Tiiceey," he said.
"Via Tiiceey, Afweyne was asked to collaborate as an advisor and expert on a film project on maritime piracy. The film was supposed to reflect his life as a pirate."
But when both pirates arrived on Saturday morning to sign the film contract, "they were awaited and taken into custody," the prosecutor said.
