Abshir Abdillahi (Boyah)

Abshir Abdillahi, known as Boyah, was a Somali pirate leader based in the Puntland region, described by journalists as one of the earliest and most prominent figures in the resurgence of Somali piracy, having reportedly begun as a lobster diver before turning to hijacking foreign fishing and merchant vessels starting in the 1990s. He gave numerous media interviews describing piracy as a response to illegal foreign fishing off Somalia’s coast. He was arrested by Puntland authorities in 2010 and sentenced to five years in prison.