STC gunmen arrest number of shop owners in Aden

ADEN, Oct.02 (YPA) – Gunmen affiliated with the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC), arrested a number of shop owners in Yemen’s southern port city of Aden, local sources said on Monday.

According to local sources in the city of Aden, the gunmen forced the owners of shops in Al- Mansoura district, to close their shops before they were taken to the Political Security prison.

The sources added that the arrest of the shops’ owners was carried out under the pretext of paying fees for “practicing professions”, which no one had ever heard of before.

The sources confrimed that the gunmen demanded the owners of shops, to pay amounts of up to 200,000 riyals, in the name of “license to practice a profession” and fines for delay, in addition to 50,000 riyals “fare” of the gunmen.

The sources pointed out that this measure sparked angry reactions among shop owners who refused to pay any levies outside the law, which led to their imprisonment.

E.M