Somalia: 79 tons of acids seized in Mogadishu

Somali security officers on the rubble of part of the Elite Hotel after the Shebab attacks on August 17, 2020. REUTERS / Feisal Omar

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3 min

The Somali authorities have announced that they have got hold of a huge amount of sulfuric acid.

In a short message Wednesday, the intelligence services said they had seized 79 tons.

A commodity that was, according to Mogadishu, intended for the terrorist group Shebab.

The smugglers have been arrested and will be brought to justice, the NISA agency said.

A seizure announced three years to the day after the bloody attack of October 2017, when the explosion of a truck bomb left more than 600 dead in Mogadishu.

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With our correspondent in Nairobi,

For years, the shebabs have been bringing products into Somalia that they use to make explosives.

Sulfuric acid, for example, is a component of nitroglycerin, a powerful explosive repeatedly detected on Islamist bombs.

Thanks to their network, corruption and smuggling, the terrorists manage to recover the goods from neighboring countries.

But as they infiltrated the ports, the circuit also goes by sea. In June 2019, 700 bags of ammonium nitrate had for example been found off the coast of Oman, on a boat heading for Somalia.

Terrorists do not hesitate to divert products that have arrived legally.

In March 2019, the

delivered 180 tons of explosives, 165 tons of ammonium nitrate and detonators.

The cargo was sent to a road and port construction site.

However, experts are worried about the risk of hijacking when, despite the arms embargo, there are no restrictions on the transport of commercial explosives.

The traders of the port of Kismayo also admit selling fertilizers to farmers established in areas under Shebab control ...

Added to this is the increase in the needs of the armed group, which is no longer content, as in the past, to use equipment stolen from army stocks.

Islamists are increasingly using remotely operated explosive devices.

However, we know that since at least 2017, they manufacture them themselves.

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• Somalia

• Shebabs

• Terrorism

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