(SomaliNet) Radio Garowe in Puntland, northeastern Somalia has been closed with three of its journalists being arrested. According to journalists in Garowe and Garoweonline, heavily armed security forces of Puntland Regional State stormed the premises of Radio Garowe, and ordered the management to shutdown the radio around 17 hours local time. The security forces also arrested three journalists of the radio whose names and titles are: Abdi Farah Jama Mire, Director of the Radio; Isse Abdullahi Mohammed, Editor of the Radio; and Mohammed Dahir Yusuf, a Producer.
The motive behind the closure is not known, but Puntland journalists told NUSOJ that it is all about news report of a member of National Security Agency of Somalia who escaped from the agency and afterwards spoke to the media by criticising the behaviour of security agency in Mogadishu, which Radio Garowe reported.