Former terrorist turned Intelligence agent kidnapped in Mogadishu

MOGADISHU, Somalia - An agent working with Somalia's National Intelligence Security Agency [NISA] was reportedly abducted in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, just amid an ongoing probe into the missing of another agent, Ikran Tahlil.

Moalim Abdullahi Dilip, who previously worked with the Al-Shabaab and the IS-Somalia militants, was allegedly abducted on Tuesday night by suspected Al-Shabaab terrorists, before being taken to an unknown destination.

Sources privy to the incident said the kidnappers cut his iron sheet house before bundling the agent into a waiting car and subsequent vanishing. It's not clear why the kidnappers specifically targeted him.

To date, the federal government of Somalia is yet to issue an official statement with regard to abduction. However, senior sleuths from NISA are said to have visited the crime scene before moving out.

Abdullahi, reports indicate, was born 34 years ago and joined Al-Shabaab in 2008 when the group had just been born. He worked as a translator owing to his understanding of Somali, Arabic, and English languages.

Later in 2014, he defected to IS-Somalia where he was recruited by the group founder in Somalia Abdulqadir Mumin. In ISIS, Abdullahi headed the media department where he produced propaganda videos for the group.

But after a short stint with IS-Somalia militants, Abdullahi joined the government having been recruited by NISA just like many other former extremist defectors. He has been a critic of the militant groups and has often appeared for interviews on state TV.

His disappearance comes amid an ongoing probe into the missing of Ikran Tahlil, another spy agent whose abduction caused ripples in government. While NISA pronounced her death, blaming Al-Shabaab, the militant group dissociated itself from the alleged murder.

GAROWE ONLINE