Pirates live it up

According to the BBC, the newly acquired wealth of the pirates has some ill effects:

"They promote the use of drugs - chewing khat [a stimulant which keeps one alert] and smoking hashish - and alcohol," Mr Hassan says."

It's also interesting to note that piracy has caused members of competing clans to work together.

Piracy initially started along Somalia's southern coast but began shifting north in 2007 - and as a result, the pirate gangs in the Gulf of Aden are now multi-clan operations.

But Garowe resident Abdulkadil Mohamed says, they do not see themselves as pirates.

"Illegal fishing is the root cause of the piracy problem," he says.

"They call themselves coastguards."