a car on the Libyan-Tunisian border, in the Wadi El Bir region.
“After an investigation, officers were able to seize 270,000 narcotic tablets,” the Customs Department said in a statement. They also found five bags of Heroin, weighing 2.5 kilograms.
The operation was reportedly led by Algerian smugglers.
This was part of the efforts exerted by the Customs Authority to impose security, and the rule of law along the Libyan-Tunisian border.
In May, the Head of Libya’s INTERPOL National Central Bureau, Adel Bentaleb claimed that there has been a marked increase in drug traffickers using Libya as a transhipment point. This includes drugs from as far as South America.
“While many of these drugs are neither produced nor consumed here, this has not spared us from the violent crime inevitably wrought by such activity, which we are determined to combat alongside INTERPOL,” Bentaleb said.
INTERPOL has said drugs worth nearly €100 million euros have been seized in Africa and the Middle East, during a large international police operation in March and April of 2021.
Recently, the National Commission for Human Rights in Libya (NCHRL), denounced reports of killing and excessive use of force against migrants and asylum seekers in the country.
In a statement, the NCHRL affirmed the right of the Libyan state to regulate and control the entry and stay of immigrants and foreigners present on its territory.
Earlier this month, The Greek Coast Guard has attempted to inspect a Comoros-flagged vessel, suspected of smuggling Turkish weapons to Libya, according to the Greek City Times.