# Puntland tightens entry and phone rules in anti-IS crackdown
Event date: 2025-01-28
Puntland authorities have moved to tighten controls on foreigners and mobile-phone access as they try to disrupt Islamic State networks in Somalia's north. In a report by VOA, officials banned the illegal entry of foreigners and ordered telecom companies to deactivate SIM cards linked to undocumented people and Islamic State terrorists. The measures are part of a wider security push that officials say is aimed at cutting off the group's finances while military operations continue in the Alimiskaad and Al-Madow mountains in Puntland's Bari region.
Security forces have already seized camps and defensive positions and pushed fighters further into the mountains, according to the report. At the same time, security agencies have begun a separate crackdown on undocumented people across Puntland. Local reports cited by VOA said more than 300 people were arrested. The Ministry of the Interior also issued a directive banning the sale of SIM cards to undocumented people and barring them from opening financial accounts without proper identification. The aim is to make it harder for suspected militants to move money, communicate and blend into the local economy.
The evidence supplied by VOA also points to the financial logic behind the move. Omar Mahmood of the International Crisis Group said the IS branch in Somalia has become a node for moving money to affiliates elsewhere in Africa and beyond, using extortion and transfers through formal banking and telecom systems. That is why Puntland is trying to block access to those channels. Abdirahman Yusuf Farah, a former intelligence chief in Puntland, said legitimate residents would have their rights respected. That distinction matters because the authorities are trying to present the crackdown as a security operation, not a blanket assault on ordinary people.
Puntland is relatively peaceful compared with southern Somalia, but the report says officials have grown increasingly alarmed by the rise of Islamic State fighters, including foreign recruits. They are now asking for international financial and military support, including air cover. The new entry ban, SIM-card restrictions and account checks show that the response is no longer limited to the battlefield. It is also a campaign against movement, payments and the infrastructure militants use to survive.
The crackdown may also test how carefully Puntland can distinguish residents from suspected militants. Abdirahman Yusuf Farah's comments suggest the authorities know that legal entry status, telecom records and banking access will matter in later disputes. That makes the operation more than a security sweep. It is also a test of whether local institutions can enforce identification rules without broad abuses, and whether outside partners are willing to provide the air support and funding Puntland says it needs.
The campaign also puts pressure on civilian institutions that handle identification, credit and phone registration. If Puntland wants the crackdown to last, it will need to keep those systems working consistently while avoiding a dragnet that could alienate residents who are legally present. That is the balance the former intelligence chief was pointing to when he said legal entrants would be respected.
