Two Somalis tell Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow, the only international journalist reporting from Puntland, the semi-autonomous region in north-eastern Somalia which is home to most of the country's pirates, why they turned to piracy.
Abdulrashid Muse Mohammed used to be a fisherman but he is now serving a 20 year prison sentence for involvement in piracy.He says: "I would like to tell the media and the international community, we went into this because of need and unemployment after our livelihoods were destroyed. The cause of this is the destruction of the Somali state."
Abdulrashid Ahmed, nicknamed Juqraafi or "geography", is a well-known figure among Somalia's pirates and was involved in the hijacking of a Greek ship in February.He has been accused of helping to fund current acts of piracy and he explains that "those who have been paid [their] ransom sponsor the other [pirates]".