Migrants and traffickers arrested in Puntland

The authorities in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland have detained a group of migrants who were waiting to be smuggled into Yemen and the Gulf states, Puntland's deputy information minister told IRIN on Wednesday. Abdishakur Mire Adan said 52 migrants "who were trying to get on boats" to Yemen were arrested in the coastal village of Marer, 10 km south of Bosaso. The crackdown comes two weeks after at least 30 would-be refugees, who left Puntland, drowned off the coast of Yemen. Abdishakuur said those arrested included "20 Ethiopian nationals, with the rest from southern Somalia". "The police have also arrested 10 suspected traffickers", in Bosaso, the commercial capital of the region, he added. A local journalist told IRIN that the traffickers make most of the arrangements, such as collecting the fee and making deals with the boats in Bosaso, and then send the people to Marer to be picked up. Abdishakur said Puntland would ensure that no-one used its territory as a transit point for human trafficking. "We have stationed police in areas such as Marer, favoured by traffickers, to cut off as many exit points as we can," he noted. He pointed out, however, that Puntland needed help in controlling problems of this kind. "We need assistance from the countries which are the potential destinations of the migrants to stop such trafficking," he stressed. "Many international organisations and governments make statements deploring human trafficking but do nothing to help stop it." "Migrants are desperate people and desperate people do desperate things," he pointed out. "We need not just police action but also to help these people stay home." The police operation is still continuing, with the police hunting for more traffickers. "Those arrested will be brought before the courts soon," Abdishakur said. "It will be up to the court to decide what happens to the migrants, but the traffickers will face appropriate legal action."