MOGADISHU (Kaab TV) – In an alarming wave of defections, 145 Somali police officers have reportedly abandoned their posts and are nowhere to be found.
Somali Police Commissioner General Asad Osman Abdullahi issued an urgent alert to all police departments on March 27, 2025, instructing them to locate the missing officers.
“You are hereby informed that the officers listed by name, each belonging to their respective assigned posts, have been declared missing after they were not found at the General Kahiye Police Academy, where they were last known to be,” stated the alert, a copy of which was seen by Kaab TV.
The alert was directed to “all independent commands and headquarters, the Secretary of the Police Commander, and Deputy Police Commanders of the Somali Police.”
According to police sources, some of the officers reportedly sold their weapons before fleeing the country, likely taking the dangerous Mediterranean route to reach Europe. Others are suspected to have defected to Al-Shabaab, the Al-Qaeda-linked militant group waging war against Somalia’s fragile government.
The defections come as Al-Shabaab continues its advance toward the capital, Mogadishu, capturing numerous towns and villages along the way.
Among the missing officers are those recently trained by INTERPOL for international police operations.
Concerns have been raised over whether sensitive data or classified information may have fallen into the wrong hands if any of these officers have joined Al-Shabaab.
In February 2025, INTERPOL announced that it had donated forensic detective kits to several East African countries, including Somalia, as part of the EU-funded Project Red Sea. The initiative included training 20 Somali officers in digital investigations, data collection, secure extraction, and forensic analysis.
A Somali police source in Mogadishu told Kaab TV that authorities have alerted Aden Adde International Airport with the names of the missing officers in case they attempt to leave the country.
However, preventing defections to Al-Shabaab remains a significant challenge.
The militant group currently controls two major roads leading out of Mogadishu toward the northern and southern regions of Somalia, making it difficult for security forces to intercept those attempting to join the insurgency.