MOGADISHU, Somalia - Adam Shine waited months for the chance to join one of Somalia's growth industries. He has now completed his training and is ready to use his boat-handling and global-positioning skills to hijack ships.

"I came here with my friends. They had a gun and were immediately recruited and joined companies. But I've never had a gun so, after a fairly long process, I was told to take part in training for a month and now I can join," he told Reuters by phone from the coastal, pirate haven of Haradheere.

The new 20-year-old recruit is just one of hundreds of youths in Haradheere desperate to sign up in the hope of earning a tiny slice of hijack ransoms worth millions of dollars.