Mohamed Abdi Hassan, known as "Afweyne" or "Big Mouth", allegedly earned millions of dollars in ransom payments as the boss of one of Somalia's most successful pirate gangs. 
 
 Belgian undercover agents spent months persuading him to come to Europe to take part in a documentary, only to arrest him as he landed at Brussels airport on Saturday. 
 
 Also held was an associate, Mohamed "Tiiceey" Aden, the governor of the town of Adado in southern Somalia, who was involved in trying to broker the release of the British yachting couple, Paul and Rachel Chandler. 
 
 "After patiently starting a relationship of trust with Tiiceey, and through him with Afweyne, which took several months, both were prepared to participate in this (film) project," said Johan Delmulle, a Belgian federal prosecutor, at a news conference on Monday. 
 
 A quietly-spoken man whose manner belies his reputation, Hassan was described in a United Nations report last year as "one of the most notorious and influential leaders" of the pirate network in Hobyo and Haradhere, two remote pirate towns along Somalia's vast east coast. 
 
 He is understood to have been given a diplomatic passport by the Somali government after publicly renouncing his old profession earlier this year, and agreeing to try to persuade other pirates to follow suit. 
 
 But his diplomatic status did not appear to impress Belgian officials, who had apparently identified him as the man behind the hijacking of a Belgian ship in 2009, for which two other Somalis have already been rrested and sentenced. 
 
 "All too often those persons stay out of the frame and let others carry out their dirty business," said Mr Delmulle. 
 
 The prosecutor said Mr Hassan was asked via Mr Tiiceey whether he would be prepared to be an adviser on a film about piracy, portraying his life carrying out hijackings off the East African coast and making millions of dollars from ransom payments. The Belgian tactics are likely to invite criticisms that they could put genuine documentary makers at risk. 
 
 Mr Hassan's first big prize as a pirate is believed to have been the 2008 capture of the Sirius Star, a Saudi-owned supertanker that had a crew including two Britons, chief engineer Peter French, from County Durham, and second officer James Grady, from Strathclyde. 
 
 The hijacking marked the moment that the Somali piracy began to be taken as a major threat by the international community. The tanker was far bigger than anything that had been taken before, and was sailing hundreds of miles outside the pirates' usual hunting grounds, showing their ability to roam right across the Indian Ocean. It was eventually released for a £2 million ransom. 
 
 The following year, Hassan's men received a similar-sized million ransom for the Ukrainian ship MV Faina, which was carrying Russian-made tanks and weapons. 
 
 In 2012, he was reportedly offered an amnesty and a diplomatic passport by the government if he agreed to publicly repent. The deal was allegedly brokered by Somalia’s then president, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a moderate Islamist who visited Downing Street in 2010. 
 
 Then, in January, Mr Hassan announced his retirement from buccaneering. "From today on I will not be involved in this gang activity," he told newsmen in the town of Adado in central Somalia. "I have also been encouraging many of my colleagues to renounce piracy too, and they have done it." 
 
 However, despite carrying around paperwork that identified himself as an "anti-piracy officer", many suspected Hassan only quit the game because piracy was getting harder as foreign ships began to carry armed guards. 
 
 His associate, Mr Aden, is a naturalised Somali-American who spent many years in Minneapolis, a city with a large Somali community. 
 
 He is credited with turning the town of Adado into one of southern Somalia's more stable spots, which also made it an attractive place for local pirates to conduct delicate hostage and ransom exchanges. As a result of that, he got to know many of the country's most notorious pirate leaders, including Mr Hassan. 
 
 At least 77 hostages are still held by Somali pirates, while some gangs have turned to land-based kidnapping and banditry instead. 

 The alleged pirate kingpin thought he was going work in the movies. Instead he landed in jail. 
 
 In this undated handout photo provided by the Belgian government, the Belgian ship Pompei, owned by De Nul, is shown in unidentified waters. One of Somalia's most notorious pirate leaders, Mohamed Abdi... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE In this July 6, 2009 file photo, the released crew members of the Belgian ship Pompei, Belgium's Jan Verplancke, left, James Law, right, and Dutchman Hendrik Toxopeus, address the media upon their... (Associated Press) 
 
 In a sting operation worthy of Hollywood, Mohamed Abdi Hassan was lured from Somalia to Belgium with promises of work on a documentary about high-seas crime that would "mirror his life as a pirate," federal prosecutor Johan Delmulle said Monday. 
 
 But rather than being behind the camera as an expert adviser, Abdi Hassan ended up behind bars, nabbed as he landed Saturday at Brussels airport. 
 
 "(He's) one of the most important and infamous kingpin pirate leaders, responsible for the hijacking of dozens of commercial vessels from 2008 to 2013," Delmulle said. 
 
 Abdi Hassan _ whose nickname, Afweyne, means "Big Mouth" _ was charged with hijacking the Belgian dredger Pompei and kidnapping its nine-member crew in 2009, Delmulle said. 
 
 The Pompei's crew was released after 10 weeks in captivity when the ship's owner paid a reported $3 million ransom. Belgium caught two pirates involved in the hijacking, convicted them and sentenced them to nine and 10 years in prison. 
 
 But prosecutors still wanted the ringleaders. 
 
 "Too often, these people remain beyond reach while they let others do the dirty work," Delmulle told reporters. 
 
 Malaysian authorities almost captured the reclusive Adbi Hassan in April 2012, but a document from the Somali transitional government let him slip back home, according to a U.N. report last year that called him "one of the most notorious and influential" leaders of a piracy ring that has netted millions in ransom. 
 
 So Belgian authorities decided to go undercover to get him, because they knew he traveled very little and that an international arrest warrant would produce no results in unstable Somalia. 
 
 They approached an accomplice known as Tiiceey, dangling a fake job as an adviser to a fake movie about piracy, Delmulle said. 
 
 The two men took the bait. Tiiceey was also arrested Saturday. 
 
 The prosecutor refused to divulge any more details of the sting. The two Somalis were to appear in court Tuesday in Brugge.
– The kingpin of one of Somalia's most successful pirate gangs has been arrested, after undercover Belgian agents pulled the old "you should fly to Europe so we can make a movie about your life" trick. Mohamed Abdi Hassan—also known as "Afweyne" and "Big Mouth"—thought he was flying to Brussels to help make a movie based on his life as a pirate. Instead, he was cuffed after walking off the plane, charged with hijacking a Belgian ship and kidnapping its crew in 2009, the Telegraph reports. Also nabbed in the sting was Mohamed "Tiiceey" Aden, who was involved in the 2009 abduction of a UK couple from their yacht. "After patiently starting a relationship of trust with Tiiceey, and through him with Afweyne, which took several months, both were prepared to participate in this (film) project," says a Belgian federal prosecutor. Ironically, Hassan would actually make a pretty great movie character: his other notable adventures on the high seas include allegedly ransoming Saudi tanker the Sirius Star for $3 million in 2009, and a Ukrainian ship for $3.2 million the same year. Hassan had retired from his life of crime in exchange for a diplomatic passport from the Somali government. But the Belgians weren't going to let him get away that easily. "Too often, these people remain beyond reach while they let others do the dirty work," says the prosecutor, per the AP.