Canadian human smuggling suspect Mohamed Osman Haji Ali(also a Somali national) has resumed soliciting money from Somali citizens with promises of travel to Europe and North America, according to local complainants who spoke to Shabelle Media Network.
The Canadian human smuggling suspect operates through a purported organisation calling itself the Somali Congress of Trade Unions. He has for years collected payments from people hoping to reach Canada, the United States and parts of Europe, only to leave many of them unpaid and without the travel he promised.
Mohamed Osman Haji left Somalia several years ago and settled in Winnipeg, Canada. He claimed asylum there after entering on a US visa and crossing into Canada from the United States. Once he secured legal status in Canada, he returned to activity in Mogadishu and Nairobi, working alongside an associate, Mohamud Hassan Ali, in what sources describe as a coordinated people smuggling operation.
Mohamud Hassan Ali reportedly fled Switzerland close to a decade ago after nearly being caught in a similar scheme. He previously served as secretary to Somalia’s former Labour Minister, Abdiweli Ibrahim Mudey, and is accused of using documents issued during that tenure to lend false credibility to the pair’s claims.
The International Labour Organization and the International Trade Union Confederation have both rejected the Canadian human smuggling suspect Mohammed Haji’s claim to represent Somali workers. Both bodies formally told the Somali government that they do not recognise him or his organisation, while noting they were aware of allegations tying him to serious criminal conduct. Somali government sources told Shabelle Media Network that officials only became alert to the matter after receiving formal correspondence from the ILO.
Reporting also links the case to Mohamed Osman Haji’s family. His father, Osman Haji Ali, a former member of Somalia’s parliament, has publicly defended his son on social media and lobbied government contacts on his behalf. His brother, Abdullahi Osman Haji, has offered similar public support. Sources who spoke to local media described the arrangement as a family-run operation built around an entity with no recognised legal standing.
The Canadian human smuggling suspect’s father is said to have approached Somali officials directly, pushing for his son’s organisation to be granted formal recognition as a trade union. One source said the family’s goal is government legitimacy that would let the smuggling continue as a source of income.
Documents shared with authorities in Canada and the United States reportedly show that the Canadian human smuggling suspect remains under scrutiny over people smuggling cases, with individuals contacted and interviewed across North America and Europe. Law enforcement bodies in Switzerland, Scandinavia and Canada are also said to be tracking the movements of both men.
Some individuals taken to Europe by the pair have since been detained and remain under investigation. One person who sought asylum in France was later rejected and deported, according to the reporting.
A Mogadishu resident whose relative lost money to Mohamed Osman Haji, on the promise of reaching Canada, said the family’s continued defence of him was more troubling than the original fraud.
Another resident recalled that last year the Canadian human smuggling suspect took payment from two people for a promised trip to Switzerland, failed to deliver, and was forced to flee to Nairobi after the victims demanded their money back. He reportedly returned to Mogadishu only after agreeing to repay the debt in instalments.
Shabelle Media Network says it has also obtained the names of Somali government officials whom Osman Haji Ali approached while seeking assistance for his son.
The case raises questions about how the Canadian human smuggling suspect has continued operating from a country where, as one source put it, the rule of law is expected to prevent this kind of activity. It also puts renewed scrutiny on Somalia’s institutions and their vulnerability to informal lobbying by politically connected families.
