National security forces seize military consignments at Mogadishu Port

GOOBJOOG NEWS | MOGADISHU: The Somali National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) has seized a consignment of military equipment at the Mogadishu port believed to have been intended for use by the Al-Shabaab militants.

Speaking at a news conference in Mogadishu, State Minister of Defense Mohamed Ali Haga said the agency found the arms labeled with false manifests indicating that the goods were intended for commercial use.

“At the port of Mogadishu, NISA personnel discovered a shipment of military hardware and explosive materials concealed within containers posing as authorized business imports,” Haga said.

He added that  the sleuths had been monitoring the plan to import the arsenal to the country and that intelligence officers tracked the consignment from the source until it arrived in Mogadishu in containers.

So far, 10 people including businessmen who illegally use their import-export licenses have been detained. NISA has also seized four trucks that were supposed to ferry the illegal military consignment from the Port of Mogadishu upon clearance.

“Our agency has been following the activities of these individuals in Somalia and outside Somalia,” Haga said. “It has been following their involvement in this smuggling network. Fortunately, all of them are in custody, and none has escaped.”

NISA officials also seized a similar consignment of equipment intended for Al-Shabaab use at Mogadishu International Airport, underscoring the commitment of the Federal Government of Somalia and its security apparatus to rid the country of terrorism.

“Our forces have also seized military equipment at Mogadishu’s Aden Ade International Airport,” Haga added.

This comes as the Prime Minister of the Federal of Government of Somalia, Mr. Hamza Abdi Barre chaired a high-level security meeting in Mogadishu, in which he lauded and encouraged the security forces to maintain their hold on the capital and remain relentless in their pursuit of wresting the remaining regions from cruel hands of the Al Shabaab.