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Archive -Seychelles

Prosecuting piracy kingpin Mohammed Abdi Hassan |17 October 2013

 ‘I will not testify against him,’ says captain Roucou

“I will not testify against Mohammed Abdi Hassan if I am asked to. I have already forgiven him for all the wrong he has done to me and my colleagues.”

Former hostage Seychellois captain Francis Roucou said this yesterday when interviewed by the local media following the arrest in Brussels, Belgium, of piracy kingpin Mohammed Abdi Hassan better known as ‘Afweyne’ or ‘LoudMouth’.

Mr Roucou was the skipper of the Indian Ocean Explorer which was hijacked by Somali pirates in early April 2009. There were six other Seychellois crew members on board the Indian Ocean Explorer and the seven men were held for over two-and-a-half-months off Haradheere and the boat was moored close to the Belgian vessel Pompeii which had also been hijacked.

“The only thing I could do is identify him, that’s all,” said captain Roucou, who added that the Seychelles government can file a court case against ‘LoudMouth’ if it wants.

Belgian authorities captured ‘LoudMouth’ on Saturday October 12 when he arrived in Belgium from Kenya after undercover agents had lured him and an associate to Belgium by pretending to be documentary film makers interested in making a movie about him.

It is not clear if the Seychelles government will press charges against the man believed to have been largely responsible for the spread of piracy since 2007 from pirate strongholds such as Haradheere and Hobyo on the coast of Somalia.

Designated director Joseph Bibi of the Seychelles' based Regional Anti-Piracy Prosecutions and Intelligence Coordination Centre (Rappicc) said the decision will depend on the Belgian authorities.

“LoudMouth’s arrest is good news for Seychelles which has been working together with Belgium on investigating him since immediately after the release of the crew of the Seychelles vessel Indian Ocean Explorer in June 2009. To this point, we don’t know how much Seychelles will be involved in the case. We have been exchanging intelligence with the Belgian authorities and if they need us we will be willing to cooperate through the office of the Attorney General to get ‘LoudMouth’ behind bars,” said Mr Bibi.

Mr Bibi added that ‘LoudMouth’’s name has been coming up in de-briefings during investigations with captured Somali pirates and freed hostages.

The Seychelles government worked hard to obtain the release of the Indian Ocean Explorer crew who were freed in late June, but the pirates set fire to and sank the boat in disgust at not being able to ransom her.

Two years to the day that the Indian Ocean Explorer was hijacked, six Somalis claiming to be fishermen were detained at sea and transferred to Seychelles for investigation.

  The police and the Piracy Intelligence Cell ensured that their fingerprints and photographs were sent to the Interpol for analysis and within 24 hours, Interpol had matched the fingerprints of one of the Somalis to prints found on the released Pompeii.

His photo was also identified by the released crew members of the Pompeii as being a member of the pirate crew that had hijacked them.

The Somali ‘Keelo Kute’ immediately became the subject of an extradition request from Belgium and in May 2012 he became the first person to be extradited from Seychelles. He was subsequently convicted in the Belgian courts.

The Pompeii crew were released after 10 weeks in captivity when the ship's owner paid a reported US $3 million ransom.

Seychelles had issued an international arrest warrant against ‘LoudMouth’ in 2012 on charges related to conspiracy to commit acts of piracy and the Interpol used it as the basis for an Interpol Red Alert Notice on the suspect piracy kingpin. The country has also issued international arrest warrants against Ali Duulaya, Mohamed Garfanje and Abul Kadir (LoudMouth’s son).

The United Nations Monitoring Group on Somalia (UMSMG) has described ‘LoudMouth’ as "one of the most notorious and influential leaders" in Somalia's pirate hub and was notably involved in the 2008 capture of the Saudi-owned Sirius Star oil supertanker, which was released for a ransom of several million dollars. He also reportedly took part in the 2008 capture of the MV Faina, a Ukrainian transport ship carrying 33 refurbished Soviet-era battle tanks and other armored vehicles. The ship was released after a 134-day hijack for a reported US $3 million.

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