his car. In an interview with the US senator Mark Kirk [Republican, Illinois] in the UN-built prison at Bosaso on the Gulf of Aden, Boyah said he had been arrested because “I took one ship too many.” Boyah's current whereabouts after release from prison are unclear. Following Boyah's imprisonment and that of other Somali pirates, by 2012 improved practices in the shipping industry, more effective international counter-piracy naval operations, and the increasing use of private maritime security companies together all substantially lowered the number of vessels successfully hijacked. As a result, pirates were forced to diversify, engaging in kidnap for ransom on land, and marketing their services as ‘counter piracy’ experts and ‘consultants’ in ransom negotiations. This evolution of the piracy business model was driven largely by members of the Somali diaspora, whose foreign language skills, passports and bank accounts were all valuable assets. The United Nations Monitoring Group also confirmed the collusion of senior Transitional Federal Government officials in shielding a notorious pirate kingpin "Afweyne" [Big Mouth] from prosecution, providing him with a diplomatic passport and describing him as a “counter-piracy” envoy. Between 2014 and 2015, incidences of piracy diminished, and the foreign fleets returned, stoking a new set of tensions as they continued to encroach on the coast to fish. Some of these fished without holding any fishing licenses, while others have managed to get licenses issued illegally by corrupt officials, mostly in the ministry of fisheries both at the state and federal levels, illustrating the tenuous hold of government throughout all jurisdictions of Somalia. References Piracy in Somalia Somalian pirates 21st-century pirates 21st-century Somalian people