More than 250 citizens were smuggled on Monday from Socotra province to Aden aboard a chartered ship to be placed in the UAE’s training camps in Aden.
Local sources said that the governor of Socotra Ramzi Mahrous directed the port administration to prevent the departure of the ship that will carry the recruits, so the Port administration prevented the leaving of passengers, prompting the transitional leadership to communicate directly with the captain of the ship and take it out to the area of Delisha east of the port.
According to the source, military and security chiefs in the Socotra archipelago helped smuggle the recruits in contravention of Governor Mahrous’s directives to prevent the ship from leaving.
For his part, Socotra Governor Ramzi Mahrous has reiterated that no military or security formations have been authorized by the President of the Republic or the legitimate Government.
During his inspection of the first Marin brigade and a number of military and Security battalions in the province, the governor Mahrous said that he would not tolerate any compromise of the security and stability of the archipelago.
In early May, the Yemeni government accused the United Arab Emirates of sending more than 100 soldiers from the Transitional Council, claiming the secession of southern Yemen to the island of Socotra, to form militias affiliated to the island, similar to its militias in Aden and a number of liberated areas.
The UAE is trying to tighten its control over the province of Socotra by buying loyalties and recruiting hundreds of people in the province to form an armed militia under the name “Security belt.”
