A SOMALI national has told police that his countrymen are using some of the tuck-shops in South African townships and villages to launder money for the Al-Shabaab rebel group.

The Durban-based Somali national accuses the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab of being behind most of the tuck-shops that have mushroomed across the country.

The 36-year-old man on Thursday opened a case of assault and intimidation at Durban's Broad Street police station against his countrymen

He claims he was assaulted with a hammer and threatened with guns after speaking out against his countrymen using spazas and other businesses to launder money to Al-Shabaab to wage its war against the UN-backed Somali government. He said the attack took place while he was walking home.

"I believe that my life is in danger because I have been speaking out about these activities and reported them to the police," he said. Al-Shabaab is notorious for specialising in suicide bombings and hijacking cargo ships and kidnapping foreign nationals and demanding ransom from their countries.

"Many of these people are terrorists. They are Al-Shabaab and they come to this country pretending that they are refugees fleeing war when in fact they are sent by the organisation to raise and launder money on their behalf," he said.

"This is a well-coordinated operation," the man told Sowetan.

He added: "Those of us who are against this are threatened with murder or have been assaulted. If South African authorities don't take action now they see the country being deeply enmeshed in the Somali conflict".

But other leading Somalis in KwaZulu-Natal described the allegations made by the man as "pure nonsense" and "hogwash".

"There are businesses owned by Zimbabweans in the country, who are they supporting? There are businesses owned by Ethopians too but nobody accuses them of supporting militants. It is such accusations that feed into xenophobia and attacks against Somalis in this country," said shopkeeper, Saidi Ahmed.

But KZN police spokesman Major Thulani Zwane said the allegations made by the man would be passed over to the relevant officials for further investigation.

"We were not aware of these allegations. But now his case will be looked at and a risk assessment will be conducted and if he qualifies he could be given necessary protection."

Jasmin Rajah, of the Refugee Social Network, said she is not aware of Al-Shabaab cells in South Africa.

"I heard such rumours some time ago but it was not substantiated so I cannot comment. We only assist refugees... we hardly have the capacity to deal with business people."

Brian Dube, spokesman for the Department of State Security, said: "We encourage anyone with information on illegal activities to report to the police and other authorities."

Meanwhile, BBC reported that a US bank which handles money transfers between US-based Somalis and their families in East Africa is to close its services due to concerns that the funds are being channelled to Al-Shabaab.

Merchants Bank of California handles up to 80% of such transfers from the US.

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