Authorities in Somalia`s breakaway region of Puntland on Sunday yanked a radio station off the air over allegations that it carried a bogus news report, police and staff members said.

Police said Radio Galkayo aired a baseless news item that Puntland President Musse Adde, who visited Galkayo township on Sunday, was collecting arms from government stores.

The radio station reported that Adde plans to use arms to defend himself after he rigs elections slated for December 30, a police official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The report was `absolutely incorrect and that is why the radio station was silenced,` the official said from Galkayo, a key township in Puntland region.

`Forces led by Galkayo police commissioner stormed the building and ordered us to shut down the transmitter. They also arrested the station director,` said Mahad jama Koronto, a journalist with Radio Galkayo.

`They did not give us any details why they shut the radio station and arrested our boss, but they said it was an order from the president and that the director will be charged in court,` he added.

Puntland, situated in northeastern Somalia, declared itself autonomous in August 1998. Another region, Somaliland, split from Somalia in 1991.