(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/130111-somali-pirate-328p.photoblog600.jpg)Mohamed Dahir / AFP - Getty Images fileA January 2010 photo, shows a Somali pirate and the hijacked Greek cargo ship MV Filitsa, anchored just off Hobyo in northeastern Somalia.By Abdi Sheikh, ReutersMOGADISHU - A Somali pirate kingpin nicknamed "Big Mouth" says he has renounced a life of hijacking ships that earned him fame and fortune before an international naval crackdown that has curbed attacks on maritime commercial and pleasure craft.
Follow @NBCNewsWorld (https://twitter.com/NBCNewsWorld) A U.N. Monitoring Group report on Somalia in 2010 said that Mohamed Abdi Hassan "Afweyne" commanded bandits in the Arabian Sea and off the Indian Ocean coast of East Africa for almost a decade, raking in millions of dollars in ransom payments.
"I have given up piracy and succeeded in encouraging more youth to give up piracy," Afweyne told Reuters on Friday.
"This came as a result of my efforts for a long period. The boys also took the decision like me. It was not due to fear from warships, it was just a decision," he said by mobile phone from his base in Adado in central Somalia.
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