The Libya Department of ‘Combating Illegal Immigration-Shahat Branch’ confirmed that it had deported 16 Egyptian migrants who had illegally entered Libyan territory, without documents.
The agency added that the deportation was carried out through the Musaed land port, according to the instructions of Lt. Col. Ramzi Ramadan, and on the instructions of the Public Prosecution.
In December, a Libyan patrol in the municipality of Bi’r al Ashhab arrested 21 Egyptian migrants. A source from the security department told the Alwasat news website that security patrols went out, with enhancements from the Al-Furain police station.
According to the source, the patrols found a group of migrants inside a hole in the ground, after being abandoned by smugglers. The patrol subsequently arrested them, and took them to the Al-Furain police station.
He added that investigations showed that migrants were kept without food for days, and are now waiting for their legal procedures to be completed.
Notably, a gang in Libya is believed to have kidnapped 13 Egyptian workers, and demanded a ransom of more than $8,000 dollars from their families to release them, according to Al-Arabiya.net.
Abdel-Rahman Al-Baz, the brother of one of the kidnapped workers, told Al-Arabiya.net that his brother had travelled to Libya in mid-July for work. They had lost contact with him about two weeks ago.
“I know from some Egyptians working there that several workers, including my brother, had been kidnapped by armed gangs, and they are currently residing in a drug den near Tripoli,” he said.
“They called us and lowered the ransom in exchange for the release of my very sick brother. They reduced the ransom to $4,000 dollars in order to release him, fearing that he would die,” he added.