Libya arrests 2 suspected traffickers, returns 53 to Egypt
Libyan authorities arrested two suspected human traffickers and facilitated the return of more than 50 Egyptian migrants to their home country, officials said.
Fifty-three Egyptians landed in Cairo’s international airport on a private flight late Sunday after authorities in Libya’s capital of Tripoli arrested them for attempting to travel by boat to Europe in recent weeks, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said.
The arrests and return of the would-be migrants came amid a spike in dangerous crossings and attempted crossings from the North African nation to Europe over the Mediterranean Sea.
Libya’s chief prosecutor's office said Sunday a suspected trafficker, known on social media platforms as Haj Hakeem, was arrested on accusations he detained and tortured Egyptian migrants for ransom.
The office said in a statement the suspect also faces accusations of human trafficking and coordinating recent migrant sea crossings. Prosecutors ordered him to remain in custody and issued arrest warrants for others who were not name in the statement.
Attached to the statement were graphic photos showing what the prosecutors said are Egyptian migrants half naked with their hands bound behind their backs. At least three masked people appear to be beating and torturing them.
Another suspected human trafficker, a Somali national named Hassan Qeidi, was arrested over the weekend, the prosecutor’s office said in a separate statement.
It said Qeidi faces accusations including leading a human trafficking network in and outside Libya. He was also accused of killing dozens of migrants, sexual misconduct against female migrants and mistreating migrants for ransom from their families.
It was not immediately possible to reach family members or lawyers for the two suspects.
Libya has for years been a hub for African and Middle Eastern migrants fleeing war and poverty in their homelands and hoping for a better life in Europe. The oil-rich country plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
