Puntland Police Seize Lorry Carrying  “South Korean Rice”

 

Milled rice donated “by South Korea”.

Garowe (PP News Desk) — Nugaal Transport Police last night seized a lorry carrying donated food from South Korea. The officers who searched the lorry at Laacdheere checkpoint found sacks of milled rice from the 2023 harvest, packed in March 2024.

It is unclear how milled rice from South Korea ended up in Somalia. The last time South Korea provided “humanitarian assistance worth 500,000 US dollars to Somalia” was in 2012.

Puntland Transport Police searched the lorry at Laacdheere checkpoint.

Food quality standards staff in Garowe are investigating the authenticity of the sacks bearing the name of the donor country.

Enhanced searches at Puntland State have been introduced at checkpoints to prevent food and ammunition from being illegally smuggled to terrorist hideouts in the Calmiskaad mountain range.

Puntland Interior Ministry will issue a statement once investigations into the lorry and its crew are concluded.

© Puntland Post, 2025