Security forces in Somalia’s autonomous state of Puntland have detained over 80 Ethiopian illegal immigrants who were on a voyage to gulf countries to seek asylum, a security official has said.
The 82 immigrants were arrested when Police intercepted the lorries they were travelling in, in an area close to the autonomous state’s capital of Garowe.
‘’We arrested them along with the drivers of the Lorries and are currently hold in a Garowe Police station,’’ said Farah Abdullahi, a security officer in Garowe.
In recent years, Tens of thousands of African migrants risk their lives to try and enter Yemen on unseaworthy boats in search for a better life. Many die atrocious deaths – beaten, thrown overboard, eaten by sharks, drowned or asphyxiated in the hold of crowded smuggler boats.
Puntland vowed that it will fight against the undocumented immigrants who are using its coastal areas to cross the red sea and reach gulf countries.
War-torn Yemen is mainly used as a transit country, with African migrants often aiming to move on to neighbouring oil-rich Gulf nations to find work.
Horseed Media
Somalia: Puntland Police detain 82 Ethiopian immigrants
Published: July 6, 2015
