Somalia arrests 10 Indian sailors in capital

Mogadishu, Jan 11 (AP) Somali police say they havearrested 10 Indian sailors in the Somali capital of Mogadishu.

Police spokesman Abdullahi Hassan Barise says they areunder investigation and the police will release a statementshortly.

Businessman Bashir Hassan says the men were arrestedbecause Somali businessmen had chartered their vessel, theMuskan, to carry charcoal from the ports of Barawe andKismayo. Both ports are controlled by Islamist insurgentstrying to overthrow the weak UN-backed government.

Hassan says the 10 were handcuffed today and taken toMogadishu''s central prison.

Last year the government banned the export ofcharcoal. Burning trees to make charcoal is one of the fewways to make money in arid, poverty-stricken Somalia. (AP)