Children sent to Somalia ‘to escape London knife crime’

PARENTS are reportedly sending their children to Somalia to escape spiralling knife crime in London.

Somalian mothers, some of whom fled the country during the civil war in the Nineties, said they had “no choice” but to send their British-born children back to their homelands to prevent them being influenced by drug gangs.

Some women said their children had even asked them if they could leave the UK in the wake of soaring violence on the streets, according to The Observer.

The newspaper reported hundreds of children living in the capital had been flown to Somalia, Somaliland and Kenya. Those close to Islington’s Somali community in north London claim up to 70 per cent of them have been affected by knife crime or county lines.

Rakhia Ismail, deputy mayor of Islington Council, told The Observer: “Sending them away has become the only way they can be safer. This issue of safety has been repeatedly raised by the community but nobody has listened.”

Sadia Ali, treasurer of Islington Somalia Forum and founder of Minority Matters, said: “Hundreds of youngsters have been taken to Somalia, Somaliland and Kenya, some taken all the way to the rural areas. Parents feel they have no choice if they want their son to be safe.”

Somalia is a notorious hotbed of terrorism, with jihadist groups such as alshabaab regularly carrying out attacks.

According to local media, at least five people were killed in a bomb explosion in the country’s capital, Mogadishu, on Thursday. Yet the country has still received an influx of British teenagers as anxious parents choose to send them away. The newspaper reported that a 15-year-old boy was sent to Somalia after the death of his friend in Islington, as he was told “you next”.

On Thursday, Ayub Hassan, 17, became the 17th person to be stabbed to death in London this year when he was attacked in West Kensington.