Somali parents are sending their kids back to war-torn Africa as it’s SAFER than knife crime-riven UK

TERRIFIED parents of British teens are sending them to East Africa to escape the UK’s knife crime epidemic.

Families are taking drastic measures to keep their kids safe as the murder rate from stabbings soars to 100 deaths since the beginning of the year.

Twenty eight people have been victims of fatal stabbings in London alone.

The latest fatality came yesterday evening as a man in his 30s was knifed to death in Forest Gate, East London.

SENT TO SAFETY

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office advises against all travel to Somalia, including Somaliland.

Officials also warn of a heightened threat of terrorism and kidnappings across Kenya.

But, Yusuf, 21, whose name may have been changed for safety reasons, said he felt safer living in Nairobi than he did in London.

He moved to Kenya after his friend was murdered in a knife attack.

London’s not the place to be for a teenager

Yusuf

Yusuf told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire Programme: “In those few years I was doing my A-levels it was tough. Just seeing people being dropped every other day, being stabbed.

“London’s not the place to be for a teenager.”

SAFER IN SOMALILAND

Eight per cent of those knifed to death on Britain’s streets this year have been of Somali heritage, according to the BBC.

But now two in five Somalian families in London are sending their children to Africa, according to the Mayor of Islington, Rakhia Ismail.

A mum called Amina told how she sent her son to Somaliland after she became concerned about him falling in with the wrong crowd.

During his year there he began to take his school studies seriously and wanted to stay.

But within 17 days of his return to the UK last year, he was stabbed four times.

He suffered permanent damage to his bladder, kidneys and liver.

He was safer there [in Somaliland] than he was here… 100% more safe than in London

Amina

She told the BBC: “He’s been completely traumatised by the experience. He was safer there [in Somaliland] than he was here… 100% more safe than in London.”

Ms Ismail, a mum of four who came to London from Somalia as a refugee, said parents felt forced to make these decisions because areas in the city were becoming unsafe for families.

She told the BBC: “Does the parent wait for her child to be killed? Or does the parent take a decision – quite a drastic decision – to take him all the way back to wherever that child is from originally?”

The drastic measures taken by British parents come after three teenagers were knifed to death in London this year.

The youngest was 14-year-old Jaden Moodie who was murdered in Waltham Forest, North London.

Cops are fighting an endless battle against gangs using knives in the city.

Knife arches have been installed in schools with the hope it could catch out teenagers carrying weapons to class.

Met Police officers will also have the power to stop and search on the streets — without proving reasonable grounds to suspect that person is carrying a weapon.

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