A 42-year-old Somali national wanted in a major Minnesota fraud case has been arrested in Mogadishu, United States authorities have confirmed.
Abdikerm Abdelahi Eidleh was taken into custody on Thursday in the Somali capital in connection with the long-running “Feeding Our Future” investigation.
The US Attorney’s Office in Minnesota did not provide the exact details on the operation that led to his arrest.
“Abdikerm Abdelahi Eidleh, 42, of Burnsville, Minnesota, one of the orchestrators of the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme, was taken into custody on June 25, 2026, in Mogadishu,” the Attorney’s Office said on Friday.
Abdikerm was previously named in a 2022 federal indictment as an employee of Feeding Our Future, a Minnesota-based organisation that sponsored Federal Child Nutrition Programme sites.
According to prosecutors, he played a role in recruiting and supporting site operators under the programme, which was intended to provide meals to children in need.
The scheme allegedly involved the use of shell companies, falsified invoices and disguised payments described as consulting fees.
Fraudulent meal claims were submitted for thousands of children per day, while funds intended for food programmes were diverted through a network of individuals and companies.
Abdikerm, US prosecutors say, personally received more than $5 million (Sh647.6 million) in proceeds linked to the alleged fraud.
The suspect was indicted on 31 counts, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, bribery of federal programmes, and money laundering. He left the United States after charges were filed in 2022, before his apprehension in Somalia four years later.
“This defendant was a central figure in one of the largest fraud schemes in Minnesota history,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald.
According to McDonald, the case highlights continued efforts to pursue suspects beyond US borders, adding that authorities would continue to track individuals accused of financial crimes “wherever they run and wherever they hide.”
The Donald Trump administration has drawn increased attention to Minnesota’s Somali community in connection with the Feeding Our Future fraud case, which has become one of the largest public benefits fraud investigations in the state.
The community is the biggest Somali diaspora group in the United States, with an estimated 84,000 people of Somali origin living in the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area.
In remarks made late last year, Trump also came under scrutiny after using the word “garbage” to describe Somalis, comments that were widely criticised by the Somali American Community.
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