Detention, theft and damage... Bitter options inside Houthi customs outlets
English - Tuesday 04 April 2023 الساعة 01:36 pm
Sana'a, NewsYemen, exclusive:
The terrorist Houthi militia, the Iranian arm in Yemen, deliberately detains hundreds of commercial trucks at its separatist customs outlets at the entrances to the governorates under its control.
By establishing these crossings, the militias aim to reap more financial resources, by imposing new illegal customs duties on goods, commodities, and imports coming from the main crossings of Yemen.
The Houthis have doubled the establishment of such customs outlets along the border strip separating the governorates under their control and those under the control of the internationally recognized Yemeni government. Where large levies are imposed on the owners of goods coming from the liberated areas, truck drivers and travelers.
These Houthi outlets focus on seizing commercial trucks carrying various goods for local markets in their areas of control. Where additional customs fees are imposed on the owners of those goods to allow them to pass, while the goods whose owners are unable to pay (additional) customs fees are seized, and the militias impose their drivers on them for the second time. Although they had handed over its customs at the first main customs port that it reaches from outside Yemen.
The exorbitant levies imposed by the Houthi militias overburdened the shoulders of merchants and importers and increased the financial burdens, which in turn reflected in the rise in prices on citizens. These customs levies led many importers and traders to bankruptcy, and most of them fled to government-controlled areas, opening major warehouses for them in those governorates to avoid passing through those Houthi ports.
The militias were not satisfied with the illegal fees they imposed through what they call customs outlets. Rather, it sent its gangs to harass the merchants with the aim of blackmailing the drivers of cargo carriers and looting their money without legal justification.
Houthi robbery gangs
Drivers of freight locomotives and trucks arriving from the liberated areas complain of organized theft and looting by Houthi gangs whose leaders are linked to prominent Houthi leaders in Sana'a.
One of the truck drivers told "NewsYemen": A gang of two to three armed individuals was present on the roads in the Houthi-controlled areas, intercepting the truck or locomotive loaded with goods in separate places in Sana'a or its suburbs... where malicious accusations are made against the driver, including cutting Electric line, internet and water pipe, before imposing a fine of 100,000 riyals or more.
The driver - who asked not to be named for fear of being pursued by the Houthis - pointed out that the mobile gangs sometimes ride a "motorcycle" and sometimes a "taxi" car, and sometimes on military crews, these elements use the method of intimidation and intimidation at gunpoint, to persecute Many drivers of trucks and locomotives and unlawfully robbed them of their money in the main streets and separate parts of Sana'a.
The driver held the Houthi militia responsible for the continuation of the crimes of these gangs, accusing them of complicity and failure to arrest, cover up and protect them, despite the possibility of knowing the identities of their members, since most of the streets of Sana'a have surveillance cameras installed by the group.
Rahda outlet is an example of intransigence
Since the beginning of last March, the Houthi militia has been holding 38 trucks loaded with rice at the Al-Rahda port for collections located at the southern entrance of Taiz governorate, while it has been holding 180 other commercial trucks carrying various foodstuffs for nearly two months at the same port, which the militia has turned into a new collection point. It is illegal to plunder the money of merchants and raise the prices of food commodities to citizens.
Drivers of cargo transport trucks complained to "NewsYemen" about what they described as the Houthis' intransigence at Al-Rahda port and the continued detention of their trucks coming from Aden loaded with rice, flour and foodstuffs without justification since the fifth of last March, despite their completion of customs procedures.
The drivers expressed their fear of damage to their goods due to the rain and their stay in the sun for long periods, especially after doubling their expenses as a result of their stay after their detention for a long time, which will be borne by the simple citizen in the price increase on the seized goods.
Afar port in Al-Bayda.. theft and damage to goods
Recently, the Houthi militia prevented truck drivers loaded with cement from passing through the Afar customs port in Al-Bayda governorate, and detained many of them, refusing to allow them to return for a month. This arbitrary measure turned into harm to truck drivers who were subjected to robberies in the yard of Al-Sawadiya camp, which the militias designated as a reservation for their customs port.
"NewsYemen" obtained a complaint submitted by five drivers of trucks loaded with national cement, addressed to a designated Houthi leader, general director of the Afar port, asking him to investigate the theft of the fuel tanks of four "transport trucks" containing "diesel" while they were in the yard of Al-Sawadiya camp.
The drivers confirmed that large quantities of cement were petrified as a result of the rain, which could expose them to damage due to arbitrary detention for more than a month, calling on the Houthi customs authority to take responsibility for their seized trucks and compensate them, since the trucks are in the port and diesel is still a debt in their necks.
They added that the Houthi militia refuses to guard the trucks held in the detention yard, or to let their owners and drivers return from where they arrived and not to disrupt them, as the trucks are their only source of livelihood to support their families.
government condemnation
In the context, the Yemeni government condemned, in the strongest terms, the Houthi militia's continued use of the policy of starvation as a weapon to confront the besieged civilians in the city of Taiz in particular and the areas under its control in general.
This came in a statement issued by the Yemeni Ministry of Industry and Trade, on Friday evening, and published by the official news agency, Saba.
The statement said, "We are following the flagrant violation of citizens in Houthi-controlled areas that threatens the lives of millions without regard for the sanctity of the holy month, in light of the terrorist militia's detention of hundreds of trucks loaded with flour."
The statement added that the militia "has been holding 180 trucks for nearly a month in the Al-Rahda area, the southern entrance to Taiz Governorate, which the militia has turned into a new illegal collection point to loot merchants' money and raise the prices of food commodities for citizens."
He stressed that what the militia is doing to prevent the passage of food trucks to the governorates under its control is a war crime against humanity, and the international community must intervene and put pressure on the militia.
The statement stated that the Houthi militia is using food as a weapon and punishment against the Yemeni people, "which heralds a catastrophe that the militia is not aware of its repercussions." He pointed out that this blockade and prevention comes after the militia's reckless actions to blow up the banking financial system on which all internal and external commercial transactions are based, and this indicates a lack of responsibility and lack of appreciation for the consequences.
The Ministry of Industry called on international organizations operating in Yemen to pay attention to these inhumane practices, monitor them and inform the international community of them to play its role in preventing the deteriorating humanitarian conditions from worsening.
It pointed out that the immoral approach adopted by the Houthi militia in its aggression against the Yemeni people illustrates the criminal nature of this militia and its rejection of calls for peace and the efforts being made to achieve a political settlement in Yemen.
