By: Yusuf M Hasan
ERIGAVO (Somalilandsun) – Sanaag police are holding eight charcoal smuggling foreigners and their two trucks.
Police in Erigavo have confiscated two trucks and arrested eight people who were caught on the trucks that they were using smuggle charcoal to Garowe town the administrative capital of Puntland, a Somali regional state.
This revelation came during a joint press conference conducted in Erigavo town by the Sanaag regional police commander Ismail Yusuf ‘Ga’amo-yare and the regional ministry of Environment coordinator Mr. Hussein Ismail Talahi.
The press briefing informed that the eight smugglers and their two trucks, which were full of charcoal produced from wet trees, were confiscated at Siraadley hills after police discovered that the trucks bore Puntland number plates.
According to the regional police commander, the two trucks are now the property of the government while the eight smugglers will be arraigned in court as soon as necessary paper work is completed.
The Sanaag regional has in the recent past initiated stringent measures to curb charcoal burning and subsequent smuggling to the rogue Somalia administrative region of Somalia which is notorious for funding any activity geared towards debase Somaliland.
At the same time the crackdown in Sanaag is because of the fast deteriorating environment fuel by rampant tree cutting for charcoal burning purposes
