Tuesday August 19, 2014
Somali police Captain Mohamed Hussein said that Mohamed Garfanji, considered to be the second-ranking leader of the country’s pirate industry, was arrested in Mogadishu on Sunday for possessing illegal arms and other charges related to piracy.Garfanji is the second top pirate leader arrested on Monday.Belgium arrested pirate kingpin Mohamed Abdi Hassan last year with a trick which lured him to Belgium to work on a documentary about piracy.
The arrest comes as the Somali government continues a disarmament campaign in Mogadishu that has seen hundreds of guns seized.
Piracy off the coast of Somalia once was a serious threat to the global shipping industry, but attacks have dropped dramatically the last several years after ships began carrying armed guards.