Socotra was a refuge for pirates for centuries.
According to Marco Polo (13th century) and Ibn-Batuta, the famous 14th century Arab traveller, as well as many other sources, Socotra has been a refuge for pirates taking part in active trading activities on the Island for centuries.
Today pirates do not live on the Island. The Socotrans themselves are friendly and law-abiding people. However, the close location of Somali still gives trouble to them. The point is that Somali pirates often fall on Yemenite and Indian ships delivering diesel oil, petrol, bottled gas, constructional materials, consumer goods and food products to Socotra.
(When shooting a film on Somali pirates in Yemen the Russian TV journalists consulted one of the experts of our site)