MOGADISHU, 22 November 2009 (Somalilandpress) — Agents with Somalia’s customs have seized more than $1-million worth of fake US notes in Mogadishu’s Adan Adde International airport, authorities told local reporters on Saturday.
During a press conference held at the airport, Somalia’s Treasury Minister, Mr Abdulrahman Omar Osman said the fake money was to be smuggled into Somaliland’s capital, Hargeisa, where it was to be used to carry out terrorism attacks.
Somalia’s police spokesman, Mr Dhexe Abdullahi Hassan said Al Qaeda was the prime suspect and decided to smuggle counterfeit notes after international financial institutions starved the terrorist group of all money supplies.
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He said they will destroy the contraband money.
No one has been reportedly arrested and the authorities did not disqualify where the money was originally printed.
Even though, Somaliland is relatively peaceful, terrorist groups in Somalia carried out successful attacks in Hargeisa in October last year killing 24 persons and wounding more than 30 others. Just two weeks ago, Somaliland security forces thwarted a plot to attack a peace conference in Hargeisa, organized by the Finnish Lutheran Church’s foreign aid branch, Finn Church Aid.
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Source: Somalilandpress
[Photo: Somali authorities showcase fake dollars in Mogadishu 21 November 2009. Salad Iidow Hassan/Hiiraan Online]
If Somalia and Somaliland want to defeat the terrorists, they must go after their sources of income and the supplies of weapons.