47 Egyptian migrants rescued in Libya from human trafficking gang
47 Egyptian migrants have been rescued by eastern Libyan authorities as they dismantled a human trafficking network, according to the Libya Review on November 26th.
The release of the migrants, who were kidnapped and subsequently subjected to torture and financial extortion by traffickers, was announced by the Ajdabiya Security Directorate.
The directorate revealed that its officers conducted a “high-risk operation” on November 23rd, during which 47 Egyptian nationals who were being held in inhumane conditions were freed.
It became aware of the case when one victim managed to escape from captivity in an old house and reported the situation to the local police station.
According to the victim’s account, Egyptian and Libyan traffickers had pledged to smuggle him into Italy in exchange for a sum of money, but instead abducted and tortured him alongside other migrants.
During a raid on the first of two trafficker hideouts, the police arrested a 30-year-old Egyptian gang member and rescued 14 captives who were being held in “inhumane and degrading conditions.”
Upon his detention, the gang member revealed the whereabouts of the second location. It was a small, windowless garage in which 33 Egyptians who were in “dire health and psychological condition” were being held. The authorities later confirmed that the gang’s leader is a Libyan national who had already been sentenced to death.
Migrant trafficking is a flourishing and cruel industry in Libya. A November CNN report uncovered non-state militias and gangs, largely located in Libya’s south-eastern Kufra province, intercepting migrants and holding them as hostages, often torturing and sexually abusing them in captivity.
Libya’s political fragmentation into two rival governments after late dictator Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in 2011 has facilitated the development of what Chatham House labelled “an economy dominated by violence.”
Speaking to Asharq Al-Aswat, a security source stated that quantity of migrants seeking to cross into Europe from Libyan shores “has sharply increased in recent months” despite heightened efforts by security efforts to dismantle smuggling networks and increase deportation operations.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) reported that roughly 867,055 migrants are currently in Libya, with 33% of them being Sudanese asylum seekers fleeing their country’s brutal civil war.
However, it also clarified that the actual figures are likely much higher, with the number of Sudanese migrants alone potentially exceeding 800,000. It stated that the recent downturn in NGO activity in Libya has constrained data collection capacities.
Libya Review, The Libya Observer, Maghrebi.org, CNN, Chatham House
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