Mohamed Abdi Hassan, known as "Big Mouth" in pirate circles, wants to bring an end to what he describes as "this dirty business" despite having made millions of dollars seizing ships in the Indian Ocean.
Mohamed Abdi Hassan, known as "Afweyne", or "big mouth", said after being in the piracy game for eight years, he decided it was time to move on.
"We've been in this dirty business for a long time, but we tasted the bitterness and bad consequences. I and other comrades have chosen to quit," he said.
Last year he was described as "one of the most notorious and influential leaders" in Somalia's pirate-hub region of Hobyo, in a report by the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea.
His men were reportedly involved in the 2009 capture of the MV Faina, a Ukrainian transport ship carrying 33 refurbished Soviet-era T-72 battle tanks, and which was released after a 134-day hijack for a reported three million dollars.
He was also reported to be involved in the 2008 capture of the Saudi-owned Sirius Star supertanker, also released for a ransom of several million dollars.
Speaking at a ceremony in the central Somali region of Adado, he said he has also been working to persuade other pirates to follow his example to quit sea banditry.
"I would also like to encourage many of my colleagues to renounce piracy too, and hand over whatever materials they have, boats and weapons," he said.
Somalia has been ravaged by a relentless conflict since 1991, and a lack of effective central authority has allowed pirate gangs, extremist militia and other armed groups to control mini-fiefdoms.
However, piracy attacks off the coast of Somalia have plummeted to a three-year low thanks to beefed up naval patrols.
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