More than 100 migrants, including five women, have been rescued from captivity in eastern Libya after being held for ransom by a human trafficking gang, the country’s attorney general announced on Monday.
According to a statement from the attorney general’s office, the criminal group was involved in smuggling migrants, unlawfully detaining them, subjecting them to torture, and demanding ransoms from their families in exchange for their release.
Libya remains a major transit point for migrants seeking to escape conflict and poverty in hopes of reaching Europe, often via perilous journeys through the desert and across the Mediterranean. This migration surge intensified after the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that led to the fall of former leader Muammar Gaddafi.
The recently freed migrants were held in the town of Ajdabiya, located about 160 kilometres from Benghazi, Libya’s second-largest city. Authorities confirmed that five suspected traffickers — nationals of Libya, Sudan, and Egypt — have been arrested in connection with the case.
Photographs posted by the attorney general and the Ajdabiya security directorate on Facebook, reportedly retrieved from the suspects’ mobile phones, showed migrants with their hands and feet shackled, displaying signs of physical abuse.
In February, the bodies of at least 28 migrants were found in a mass grave near Kufra city, with officials stating they had been subjected to torture and inhumane conditions by a criminal gang. A similar discovery was made earlier when 19 bodies were uncovered in the Jikharra region, with a local security directorate attributing the deaths to a known smuggling network.
As of December 2024, the United Nations recorded approximately 825,000 migrants from 47 countries residing in Libya.
Efforts to address the crisis continue. Last week, the European Union’s migration commissioner and ministers from Italy, Malta, and Greece held talks with Libya’s internationally recognised prime minister, Abdulhamid Dbeibah, focusing on the escalating migration situation.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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