[4] The foreign fishermen consequently took protective measures, whereupon Boyah and his men began to target more vulnerable and slow- moving commercial shipping vessels.
During this time, Puntland, a semi-independent territory in Somalia, only exercised limited authority, whereas the money introduced and distributed to the community by the pirates created some local support, even though conservative elders condemned these crimes and the perceived ensuing vices of alcohol and women.
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.
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.