Mohamed Aabi was struggling to eat once a day a year ago but now he is one of the richest men in the village of Eyl, northeast Somalia.

In the past nine months the 28-year-old pirate has taken part in the hijacking of two ships off the coast of Somalia. Now he is his own boss, entitled to 30 per cent of the ransom on the next ship his men are planning to seize.

Pirates are usually in their twenties, illiterate, attracted by the prospect of a lucrative life and are prepared to get rich or die trying. “We are hungry, you know,” Mr Aabi said, smiling while chewing a local drug known as qat. “There is no government here, no economy, so it is a good way of earning money.”

Mr Aabi, wearing a blue sarong-like traditional kilt called macaawis, believes that he is helping fellow Somalis who want to prosper. After capturing a ship, pirates employ interpreters, drivers, accountants and others who assist them on their daily needs. He said: “I am going to continue. We are experienced and have the expertise to hijack ships without being captured.”

Piracy is the fastest growing industry in Somalia, especially in the northeast. At one of the pirates’ meetings in Eyl, they discussed plans to train special forces to target a French ship “to teach a lesson” to the French Government.

In April this year French commandos carried out a helicopter raid on Somali pirates after they released hostages from a luxury yacht. Six of the pirates suspected to have taken part were seized and are now in Paris awaiting trial.

The pirates’ meeting ended on an upbeat note: “We have to show our capabilities of capturing ships anywhere in the world so that others would not act the same way the French did,” a leader of the gang shouted. However, a former pirate who gave it up three months ago after earning £15,000 thinks it is a dangerous business. Pirates sometimes spend up to six nights at sea looking for their prey. “It is too risky,” said the man who did not want to be named. “It is very cold out there and you could end up dead before you achieve your aim.”

The majority of Eyl residents are furious at the bad reputation that pirates have brought to the village. They accept that pirates have supporters and friends within the community but they feel powerless to do anything against them.

Abdinur Said, a shopkeeper in Eyl, also complained that the pirates spent most of their money elsewhere, though he admitted that they did make a contribution to the local economy. “During their stay they buy goods, use restaurants and coffee shops,” he said. “But all the stories we hear in the world media that the pirates are treated like heroes and kings are false and untrue.”

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