Somalia: Puntland police capture smugglers in anti-trafficking raid
BOSSASO, Somalia, September 15, 2015 (Garowe Online)-Puntland police forces have captured Somali smugglers along with Yemeni national in anti-human trafficking raid in Bari and Sanaag regions, Garowe Online reports.
At a news conference in Bossaso port city, Bari Governor Yusuf Mohamed Waeys (Dhedo), regional police commander Abdihakin Yusuf Muse and Bossaso port security unit head Mohamed Ali Hashi disclosed that the police raid netted nine would-be migrants and three smugglers.
Hashi said, the operation led to the arrest of victims of human trafficking and traffickers including a Yemeni who were planning to smuggle the youths on unseaworthy boat into impoverished Yemen.
The campaign aims at dismantling underground trafficking networks, believed to have fuelled the deadly trend.
Bari Governor pointed accusing fingers at parents, alleging that they failed to shoulder more parental responsibility.
After turning himself in, former smuggler Abdiasis Ahmed Mohamud (Dhutur) has provided police with tip-off about smuggling activities.
On September 10, Puntland Information Minister Mohamud Hassan So’adde dismissed reports of recruits ferried to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) ‘unfounded’.
GAROWE ONLINE