Mogadishu, Somalia – A political storm has erupted in Somalia after the arrival of what critics are calling a “Special Case Flight” from Europe, carrying 28 deported Somali citizens from Sweden and Finland, including a man identified as a convicted pedophile.
According to Somali MP Dr. Abdillahi Hashi Abib, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and a declared presidential candidate for the 2026 elections, the deportees landed in Mogadishu at 5:00 PM on Monday. The flight manifest, he claims, was hand-delivered to Somalia’s Immigration and Citizenship Directorate before the group was swiftly processed and released without supervision or safeguards. “Some of these deportees had no relatives waiting, no homes, and no means of survival. Somalia is being turned into a dumping ground for Europe’s unwanted criminals,” Dr. Abib said in his statement.
Dr. Abib directly accused Yahye Ali Ibrahim, the Institutional Development and Migration Governance “Senior Advisor” and de facto Director General of Immigration and Citizenship, alongside Ahmed Dahir and Kamal Gutale from the Office of the Prime Minister, of orchestrating the scheme. He alleged that Sweden, working through UNDP-managed channels, is paying $45,000 per deportee to Somali officials in exchange for accepting deported Somali-Swedish convicts, after Sweden’s attempts to pass the deal through formal diplomatic frameworks reportedly failed.
He further claimed that the National Transformation Plan (NTP), touted by the government as a reform framework, is being used as a “smokescreen” to disguise these transactions. He pointed to the recent expulsion of SIDA’s acting director, whom he said refused to endorse the plan, as evidence of behind-the-scenes tensions.
Labeling the scheme “bribery, treason, and a direct assault on Somalia’s sovereignty,” Dr. Abib urged the Attorney General to take immediate legal action against those implicated. “I will release additional evidence in the coming hours,” he declared, vowing to terminate the arrangement if elected president.
The allegations come at a sensitive time, as Somalia grapples with security threats, political contestation, and deepening concerns about governance. If proven, the scandal could trigger major public backlash against the administration, particularly over the claim that dangerous criminals are being resettled in Mogadishu without oversight. Neither the Somali government nor the Swedish Embassy in Mogadishu had issued an official response by the time of publication.