The Tripoli Criminal Court has sentenced three defendants in a human trafficking case, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
The office said in a statement that one accused was sentenced to life imprisonment, while the other two defendants were sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The statement said that the defendants “detained and tortured illegal immigrants, and forced their families to pay a ransom for their release. They practiced cruel treatment against immigrant victims, and filmed them during torture in order to force their families to pay money.”
Notably, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) has detained 15 people suspected of being members of a criminal network. They are accused of transporting Syrian nationals through Libya, and other African countries into the EU.
Spanish police said on Tuesday that the group’s alleged leader, a Syrian national, was among the detainees.
According to a statement published by Europol, it coordinated the operation with law enforcement from Germany, Norway, and France.
The agency stated that the criminal group used an “unusual and expensive route” to bring its clients to the EU, charging a fee ranging from US$7,000 to $22,000 per person.
The migrants would be transported from Syria to transit countries, then to Libya, and from there to Algeria, where they would board high-speed boats to cross the Mediterranean sea and reach Spain.
EU Authorities have recorded 13 such operations involving over 200 migrants, according to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).
Once in Spain, some migrants would stay in the country while others would move on to France, Belgium, Germany, and Norway.
The group is believed to have offered special VIP treatment to those who paid over $20,000. This included being dropped off at a different location in Spain than the other migrants. As well as being driven in luxurious vehicles with heightened security measures.