- Catching the Pirate King is a three part documentary series that tells the unlikely tale of a hijacking of a Belgian vessel in front of the Somali coast. The series looks at the hijacking of the ship and the elaborate police undercover operation that will lead to the downfall of a Somali Pirate King.
- Catching the Pirate King is a three-part documentary series about the hijacking of the Belgian ship the Pompei in the spring of 2009. At the time, it was one of dozens of ships captured by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean.
At the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the world economy was rocked by a renewed phenomenon. Maritime piracy experienced a sudden revival, as men armed with worn-out Kalashnikovs and no other options, took on ships a hundred times their size from their repurposed fishing skiffs. Among the dozens of hijacked ships was the rock-dumping vessel the Pompei, owned by Jan De Nul Group of Belgium.
On the morning of April 18th in 2009, the Pompei's crew, an international band including two Belgians and a Dutch captain, see a speck approaching on the horizon. Before they know it, pirates are on deck holding them at gunpoint, and they are forced to set course for the Somali coast.
Meanwhile, alarm bells are going off in Brussels. A special crisis operation is set up, where police, politicians and military personnel discuss how to tackle this case without any precedent. A negotiator, who has already earned his spurs with other hostage crises, is brought over from the Netherlands. When the hijackers contact him to convey their demands, he soon realises this will not be over quickly.
After the payment of a substantial ransom and 73 traumatizing days in captivity on their own ship, the crew are finally released. However, the Belgian police and the Federal Prosecutor's Office don't stop there; they start pursuing the perpetrators. They manage to snare some small shrimp, and then they set their sights on the pirate leader, Mohammed Abdi Hassan, nicknamed Afweyne or 'Big Mouth'.
Taking a page from a Shakespearean metadrama, undercover police make him an offer that plays into his vanity and greed. A fictional film company is set up, under the guise of making a film about Afweyne's life. And to make it all work, the project hinges on getting the man himself to sign on as a 'consultant'.
To preempt Afweyne's suspicions, the police use his alleged associate, local American-Somali governor Tiiceey, as an unwitting stooge. No expense is spared to convince both men to board a plane-bound for a Belgian prison.
In three episodes, those involved on both sides look back at this remarkable story. The hijacking of the Pompei resembles many other hijackings from that period. The undercover operation of the Belgian police, on the other hand, is unique in its genre. The justice department of a country as small as Belgium managing to apprehend the mastermind behind an international crisis, is more than worthy of a film adaptation. And in this way, the pirates still get what they came for.
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