Al-Shabaab commander's son arrested in Costa Rica

Authorities in Costa Rica have arrested the son of a senior commander of Somalia, a terror group that controls large swathes of rural central and southern Somalia.

Lutrnan Warsame Farah, the eldest son of the high-ranking senior leader of Al-Shabaab, a Somali terrorist group, was arrested and detained in Costa Rica, where he had been staying in hotels using false identities and a Swedish passport belonging to someone else, reports indicate.

According to reports, Farah was traced and deported to Guatemala by the National Intelligence and Security Agency [DIS] but was sent back to Costa Rica. Already, the Federal Bureau of Investigations [FBI] had warned that Al-Shabaab could be having a presence in Costa Rica following the screening.

Investigations show Farah made entry into Costa Rica on January 4, 2023, using a Swedish passport which was identified as Luqman Abdl Aziz. He stayed in the country for a month before leaving through an irregular border crossing to Nicaragua.

Al-Shabaab has been fighting to overthrow the fragile UN-backed federal government of Somalia for 15 years but efforts by the Somali National Army [SNA], US Africa Command, African Union Transition Mission in Somalia [ATMIS] and local militia have seen the group lose territories in recent weeks.

Farah’s father is linked to facilitating an Al-Shabaab terrorist attack in Sweden in 2011. Al-Shabaab group has also been waging attacks in neighboring countries like Kenya, which is also among the Troops Contributing Countries, leading to the deaths of thousands of people across the region.

Hans Sequeira, DIS Director, explained that international regulations require Farah to be returned to the country where he entered legally, so he will be sent to Somalia. The arrest and deportation of Farah highlight the ongoing threat of terrorism and the need for international cooperation in combating the group.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has waged the second phase of operations against Al-Shabaab, with the first face seeing the elimination of about 3,000 militants. Also, the government says at least 3,700 militants were injured, but there was no independent verification of this claim.

GAROWE ONLINE