The Anti-Illegal Immigration Agency of the Libyan eastern city of Shahat deported 16 Egyptians who had entered Libya without documents.
The Egyptians have been deported from Libya through the land crossing of Amsaad, following instructions from Libya’s Public Prosecution.
The Agency pointed out that the operation comes within its mission to “maintain health and national security in the country.”
It is noteworthy that six Egyptians were freed from the hands of a human smuggling gang in western Libya. Hours before their release, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said it is working around the clock to secure the release of six Egyptians who are detained in an illegal immigration centre in western Libya.
The Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday that, the detention centre is not subject to the Libyan authorities. The Egyptian Embassy in Tripoli has communicated with the concerned Libyan authorities to intervene in order to release the kidnapped citizens, it added.
The statement noted that the six Egyptians had left the country with travel permits that stipulated their presence in East of Libya only. It called on all citizens not to violate the instructions related to travel to Libya.
After they returned back to their homeland, the six Egyptians revealed the details of the terror they lived through until their liberation from the hands of human traffickers.
In an interview with Al-Arabiya news, last week, they said that they had been kidnapped by unknown gunmen, and have been kept in a-16 square meters room, along with 35 other abductees.
They claimed that they were forced to share sleeping hours due to space constraints and the large number of abductees held in that small room. They added that the kidnappers mistreated them and held them gunpoint, and told them that whoever tries to escape will be shot dead.
On the other hand, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) announced that 885 migrants were intercepted and returned to Libya during the past week.
It added that it has managed to rescue 2,850 migrants in 2023, while it recorded 56 deaths and 101 missing. Among the rescued migrants were 1,218 children, the IOM noted.
IOM said that 24,684 migrants were intercepted and returned to Libya in 2022, while 32,425 were intercepted in 2021.