The infamous Somali pirate warlord Mohammed Abdi Hassan (also known as “Loud Mouth”) was arrested last Saturday at an airport in Brussels. He was lured out into the open in what seems to be a method stripped directly from a bad action novel; Hassan was told that he was taking part in a film about the lives of criminal pirates on the high seas. However, instead of finding a film deal upon his arrival, he was met with a host of Belgian police officers waiting to detain him. Hassan has had a long background of criminal activity, but up until this point he had successfully evaded previous arrest attempts. This is partially attributed to his being on good terms with high-ranking members of the Somali government, who have been accused of protecting the vicious warlord on multiple occasions. It is because of this that he has managed to stay free for so long despite being a key figure in multiple hostage situations and ship seizures.

Both Hassan and his son are charged with attacks on hundreds of ships off the coast of Somalia, bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars from their illegal piracy. Dangerous pirates such as these have been operating in the waters surrounding the Horn of Africa, with seemingly little to no effort being put in by the nearby governments to put an end to their plundering. The incarceration of Hassan is a major step forward in making the waters around Africa that much safer, and possibly pirate free in the future.