Weapons trade with Shabaab earns merchant 8 years in jail

A 36-year-old weapons merchant who admitted to supplying ammunition to Al-Shabaab in Lower Shabelle region has been sentenced to eight years by a military court in Mogadishu.

Adow Abdulle Ahmed alias Arab confessed to selling weapons to the militant group in Kunya Barrow, Torotoro and Mubarak areas in Lower Shabelle region noting his was just business.

Defence lawyers told the court the accused had not committed any offence ‘since there is no law forbidding the sale of weapons in the country’.

But the military judge Ali Nuur Shuute dismissed the defence noting Ahmed’s actions amounted to support of the militant group.

“Anyone who is supplying guns and bullets to Al-Shabaab is just like them (Al-Shabaab) and the law will punish them. We will not tolerate such actions,” the Court of First Instance judge said.

Ahmed was arrested by members of the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) and handed over to the police on April 17. The case came up for first mention April 30.