Report: Organized crime rate is rising in occupied Yemeni southern provinces

[20/October/2020]

SANAA, Oct. 20 (Saba) - A statistical report revealed on Tuesday that the rate of organized crime in the occupied Yemeni southern provinces has increased to the highest levels during the past 40 days.

The report issued by the Media Center for the Southern Provinces, of which the Yemeni News Agency (Saba) received a copy, stated that the crimes varied between assassinations, arrests, house raids and armed robbery of the rights and property of citizens by armed militias.

The total number of monitored crimes and violations that affected citizens of both sexes in the occupied southern provinces amounted to 162 crimes, including 30 assassinations and nine assassination attempts against some leaders of the parties to the conflict, according to the report.

The Media Center monitored 16 armed attacks on citizens in the provinces of Aden, Al-Dhalea and Socotra, pointing out that the crimes of armed robbery on citizens' lands and violations against public and private property amounted to 19 crimes and are increasing on a daily basis in light of the complicity of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) militias in the city of Aden.

The center recorded eight crimes of extortion by force, some of them involving transport vehicles, merchants and others in the city of Aden, in addition to blackmailing passers-by on Al-Abr-Ataq road in Hadramout and Shabwa provinces by Islah Party militia and imposing royalties on trucks.

In its report, the center indicated that the phenomenon of extortion has spread to 'Al-Habilain' area in Lahj province, in which merchants suffer from the extortion of the STC militias.

About 21 arrests of civilians were carried out in the provinces of Aden, Shabwa and Hadramout and Mocha city of Taiz province, the center added.

The center also confirmed the increase in the phenomenon of kidnapping in the city of Aden, which affected girls and children, referring that five crimes were recorded during the same period, in addition to the rise in armed clashes, which reached 19 cases, most of them in Aden, as a result of insecurity.

According to the report, seven incidents of systematic bombings with the intent to harm the public tranquility of citizens in the city of Aden were monitored, and nine crimes of raids on citizens' homes by armed militias, in addition to the exposure of protesters in a number of provinces to repression, intimidation, shooting and arrest.

The crimes of assassination ranked first with a rate of 18.5 percent, followed by the crimes of attempted assassinations in second place with a rate of 12.9 percent, while the crimes of robbery on public and private property ranked third with a rate of 11.7 percent.

The crimes committed by militias against protesters, which varied between attacks with batons and live bullets in Aden and Mukalla city of Hadramout, against the background of deteriorating public services, came in fourth place with a rate of 11.2 percent, while armed clashes that affected residential neighborhoods ranked fifth with a rate of 11.1 percent.

The armed assaults rate on citizens amounted to 9.8 percent, while attempted murders rate reached 5.5 percent of the total recorded crimes.

The rate of attacks on citizens' homes and forcible raids represented 5.5 percent, bomb attack crimes 4.3 percent, and kidnapping 3.1 percent of the total recorded crimes.

The report excluded the armed confrontations taking place in Abyan province between the STC and Islah militias, as they have been renewed on an almost daily basis without stopping for months.

The center concluded that the occupying Saudi-Emirati aggression countries worked to hit social peace and fuel conflicts with the aim of tearing apart the social fabric so that they could pass their colonial plans in the occupied southern provinces by the hands of local militias loyal to them.

Transalated by B.A.