THREE Somali nationals have been arrested and charged with fraud, corruption, and illegal immigration following a two-week joint operation by INTERPOL’s National Central Bureau (NCB) Pretoria and the South African Police Service (SAPS) at land border posts in Mpumalanga.
The operation, which ran from 27 February to 11 March 2026, targeted wanted persons and the trafficking of stolen and fraudulent travel documents through the region’s porous cross-border corridor.
“The passport tested positive on the INTERPOL Mobile Device, triggering a chain of inquiries that ultimately exposed an alleged bribery plot.”
On 10 March 2026, INTERPOL NCB Pretoria officers stationed at Komatipoort flagged a 40-year-old Somali woman, Falis Addullah Sheikh-Mohamed, who was in possession of a Norwegian passport. When screened against the INTERPOL Mobile Device (IMD), the document returned a positive hit. Subsequent checks confirmed that the passport had been revoked by the Norwegian Immigration Department and was circulated on the INTERPOL global database by Norwegian authorities.
Sheikh-Mohamed had already been denied entry into Mozambique on the same passport, reportedly because it carried no valid visa. Officers confiscated the flagged document. Shortly thereafter, she allegedly contacted her brother, 44-year-old Hussein Mohamed Ali, and asked him to intervene on her behalf.
According to authorities, Ali allegedly attempted to bribe a SAPS member with R2 000 in cash at a Spur restaurant in Komatipoort in exchange for his sister’s release. Both were immediately arrested. A third suspect — 38-year-old Mukhtaar Mohamed, identified as the group’s driver — was intercepted at the scene and taken into custody.
All three were detained at Komatipoort Police Station. Officers seized three mobile phones, R2 000 in cash, the revoked Norwegian passport, and a BMW X3 vehicle during the arrest.
The trio appeared before the Komatipoort Magistrates’ Court on charges of fraud, corruption, and illegal immigration. The case has been postponed to 17 and 20 March 2026.
