On Monday, the Enhanced Brigade of the Libyan National Army (LNA) announced the arrest of several migrants found hiding in an abandoned home in Harawa city, northeast Libya.
The Brigade said that it handed over the migrants to the competent authorities, after they were caught trying to cross the Mediterranean.
The statement did not mention the number of migrants arrested, or their nationalities.
Last week, the 128th Enhanced Brigade of the LNA announced that it had stopped 360 migrants from crossing the Mediterranean, via the coast of Sirte.
In a statement, the LNA-affiliated brigade indicated that they handed the migrants over to the Directorate for Combatting Illegal Migration (DCIM), along with their belongings, money, mobile phones, and passports.
Libya is a key departure point for migrants seeking to reach European shores, often in poorly-maintained vessels.
The Italian news agency, Nova reported that LNA Naval forces, in the east of the country, intercepted and returned around 3,400 migrants in the last five weeks.
“This is significant progress in combating human trafficking along the eastern Libyan route, from Cyrenaica towards Europe,” Nova said in its report.
Sources from the Ministry of the Interior said that “more than 30,000 migrants from Tripoli and about 18,000 from Cyrenaica arrived in Italy in 2022.”
An operation took place on Friday, 30 December, off the eastern coast of Libya. Naval units intercepted a boat with between 600-700 people aboard. In a statement, the Libyan Coast Guard said that it was one of the largest interceptions of migrants seeking to reach Europe via Libya.
It noted that the boat was stopped close to the Mediterranean town of Moura, 90 kilometers (56 miles) west of Benghazi. The Libyan Coast Guard posted images showing a large, overcrowded vessel with most of those on board appearing to be young people.