Osman Cabdiqani

Osman Cabdiqani was born on the 10th of November 1990 in Mogadishu, Somalia. At the time of his arrest, on the 31st of May 2019, he legally resided in the town of Arese, but was de facto living together with Dubad Rashiid, in the town of Cinisello Balsamo. Osman has been indicted of enabling illegal immigration to and from Italy towards other European nations, in this enterprise, together with Ahmed Isidiin, he aided Dubad, who was the main coordinator of the operation.

Some interesting information regarding Osman’s arrival in Italy is found in a sentence by the tribunal of Milan towards a Somali human trafficker known as Osman Matammud (Sentence Nu. 10/17, https://archiviodpc.dirittopenaleuomo.org/upload/1875-sentenza-matammud.pdf). In the sentence in fact, Osman Cabdiqani was one of the plaintiffs. From the court proceedings it emerged that Cabdiqani departed the Somali town of Kismayo in August 2015, he was then transported – together with other migrants – through “well-established routes” through Ethiopia and Sudan so as to arrive in Libya. There he remained in a “containment camp” in the city of Bani Walid. His permanence lasted from December 2015 to April 2016, and the eventual exit from the camp was conditioned on the payment, by the families of the refugees and through the Hawala system, of 7000 dollars to Matammud, who managed the camp. Cabdiqani, like the other refugees, suffered from poor living conditions and the tortures inflicted on them by Matammud and his armed guards.
Cabdiqani likely reached Italian shores in the spring of 2016.
From an analysis of tax records, it also emerged that Cabdiqani had been legally employed in Cinisello Balsamo by a business dealing with electrical systems until March 2019.

Even though Osman lives together with Rashiid, the phone contacts between the two are frequent. It is in these conversations that Osman proves beyond doubt his involvement in the illegal scheme. They in fact freely talk about how to move and find hospitality for the migrants they are aiding in moving outside of Italy. Frequent are also the conversations regarding the payments of these same migrants in their favour. While some caution is shown by the two, who sporadically refer their conversations to safer systems such as WhatsApp or Facebook, their phone calls hold substantial evidentiary value.

An analysis of the phone records of Osman has also shown that he was in contact with numerous people residing in Switzerland, where, the authorities suspect, the criminal group keep their original documents. This, coupled with his ability and expertise in finding safe-houses for immigrants in different parts of Europe, prompted the authorities to ask for pre-emptive incarceration to avoid potential flight. Even so, due to the nature of his crime, he was granted house-arrests in Arese while waiting for judgement at the first-degree court of Bologna.