Somalia’s security agencies are investigating how 20 foreigners from Pakistan and Iran were abandoned off the coast of the country, at least three years after they were captured by gunmen thought to be Al-Shabaab operatives.
Officials in the state of Galmudug said 20 people who said they had been fishermen were rescued in the Indian Ocean on Sunday near the shore.
Preliminary information released on Sunday showed the foreigners were travelling in a boat from Haradhere, Galgadud, and heading to the waters off Hobyo, a port town in the Mudug region.
Haradhere was previously notorious for harbouring Somali pirates, but over the last decade, it has become a stronghold of the Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabaab terrorist group.
Hobyo District Commissioner Abdullahi Ahmed Ali told the media on Sunday that the foreigners reported that they had been separately seized by Al-Shabaab militants.
“Some said they were seized three years ago and others said they had been in captivity since 2014,” Mr Ali said.
“[The foreigners] were travelling about 65 miles (104km) off the coast of Eel-Hur village,” he added, saying that they were intercepted by Galmudug coast guard agents.
Galmudug officials said they were in touch with federal government officers from the Ministry of Internal Security in Mogadishu because the foreigners had identified themselves as fishermen from Pakistan and Iran.
It was not clear why Al-Shabaab released the foreigners nor whether any ransom payments had been made for their freedom.
Al-Shabaab is notorious for kidnapping foreigners, whom they use to push their evil agenda. But while such abductions often happen on land, the militants sometimes attack fishing vessels in the Somali sea.
Three Iranian fishermen were released by Somali pirates in August 2020 after being held for five years. They reportedly paid $180,000 in ransom.
Piracy was common off the coast of Somalia from early 2010, with captured vessels freed only after ransom was paid. However, after concerted international security patrols, incidents have dropped to none per year for the last three years.
But Al-Shabaab remains actively involved in abductions, according to an annual report by a UN Panel of Experts on Somalia.
