Saturday July 17, 2021

MOGADISHU (HOL) - A female intelligence official who went missing two weeks may be in possession of a list of Somali youth who were clandestinely sent to Eritrea for supposed military training, a former intelligence boss has claimed.

Two-time director-general of the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) Abdullahi Ali Sanbalolshe said Ikran Tahlil Farah (23) may have been a target of the agency for her possession of ‘sensitive material’.

"Some people told me that she has the record of the soldiers who were being sent to Eritrea. There could also be other sensitive information that she was in possession,” Sanbalolshe said. He confirmed that he recruited the sleuth during his tenure at the agency.

Sources noted the young spy agent had received a call before she left and boarded a car outside her home at about 8 pm local time.

Her parents have called on the agency to come clean on the whereabouts of their daughter.

The Eritrean question has remained an unresolved issue as the Federal Government flip flops despite pressure from the opposition and parents of the missing children.

Prime Minister Mohamed Roble announced the formation of a task force in June to probe the matter but there has been no word yet.

A UN report last month alluded to the presence of Somalis in the ongoing Tigray war but the government dismissed it as ‘false and unfounded.;