The Security Directorate of Benghazi announced the detention of a significant number of migrant workers, who had entered the country illegally.
In a statement released on Monday, the Directorate highlighted the efforts of the Ras Ibeida Police Station in “developing a focused plan to combat and eliminate these occurrences.” The statement mentioned the implementation of “surprise stops and raids in areas where illegal migrants are found.”
Libya serves as a transit country for migrants trying to reach Europe, particularly through the Italian coastline. According to the latest figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than 153,000 migrants reached Italy this year from Tunisia, and Libya.
On 17 December, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that 61 migrants, including women and children, drowned in a “tragic” boat accident off the coast of the Libyan port of Zuwara.
Earlier this month, the Tobruk Anti-Illegal Immigration Agency announced the deportation of seven Egyptian migrants, through the Imssaad Al-Saloum border crossing.
The agency indicated that the deportees were transferred from the Bab Al-Zaitoun shelter, with six of them suffering from Hepatitis.
In June, eastern Libyan forces deported thousands of Egyptians who were in Libya illegally, sending them back to Egypt on foot across the land border, Egyptian and Libyan security sources told Reuters.
A Libyan security source told Reuters that 4,000 migrants had been found during raids on human traffickers, following a shootout between security forces and smugglers.
The Egyptian security source said only about 2,200 of the 4,000 migrants who were found by Libyan security forces were there illegally, and they were the only ones deported. Most of them were Egyptians, but some held other African nationalities.