Woman Accused Of Trafficking Mo Farah 'Happy To Talk To Police'

The woman accused of trafficking legendary runner Sir Mo Farah to the UK to keep as a child slave has said she willing to speak with police investigating the case.

Nimco Farah has told friends and family in west London that she believes that she is the victim of a witch hunt, according to the MailOnline.

Nimco wants her account about Farah's early life in Britain to be heard.

Abdi Gelle, Nimco's cousin, told the publication: "She is currently in Somaliland and is scared of returning to the UK because she’s worried that she will be arrested and nobody will believe her."

Alamy

Gelle added: "There is a lot of dangerous things being said about how she’s a trafficker and kept Mo as a slave. She wants to tell her side of the story but is worried that nobody will listen.

"Who is going to believe a little old Somali lady over a national hero like Sir Mo Farah?"

He also claimed Mo Farah and Nimco are related and other family members told the MailOnline that Nimco, who is in her 70s, brought Farah to the UK with his family's consent.

In a shocking BBC and Red Bull Studios documentary, The Real Mo Farah, the olympian spoke of his tragic childhood, which saw him forced to work as a domestic servant.

The four-time olympic gold medallist said his real name is Hussein Abdi Kahin and that the Mohamed Farah name was given to him by those that transported him into the country illegally. 

Following the revelation, the Met Police said it will be looking into the story, with a spokesperson saying: "Specialist officers have opened an investigation and are currently assessing the available information." 

BBC

The Home Office also confirmed it would not take action against Farah after he revealed the information.

Nimco Farah was not identified specifically in the documentary but she has, however, been named as the suspected woman who brought nine-year-old Farah to her flat in west London. It is claimed she posed as his mother and forced him to care for her children and threatened that he would never see his family again.

Gelle said the term 'trafficking' does not portray Nimco's action: "Those of us in the Somali community do not see it this way.

"A lot of people brought young children that were not biologically theirs from Somaliland to the UK and other European countries so that they could have better lives. Nimco did not do anything different. This whole situation is being made out to be something that it isn’t."

Another unnamed cousin said they can believe the allegations that Farah was 'treated badly' by Nimco as a child but not those of trafficking. They added children in Somali families are expected to much more house work than western families.

"But what you also have to remember is that Somali families are not like Western ones. Children are expected to do a lot of work around the house and are brought up in a much stricter environment."