The Assistant Undersecretary of the Interior Ministry in the Libyan Parliament-designated government, Faraj Qaim said that “the Interior Ministry and the security forces in the east of Libya have become stronger than ever before.”
He praised the “excellent situation” that had been achieved through “great cooperation and harmony between the security and judicial agencies in the east of Libya.”
This came while he was attending the 5th session of the Duties Of Judicial Police Officers. This was in the presence of a number of MP’s, and Solicitor General Fawzi Al-Kazah, the Director of the Benghazi Security Directorate.
“The Ministry of Interior is closer to the citizen, and today it is stronger than ever before,” Qaim said.
He affirmed the need to fight corruption, calling for “more efforts to train and develop policemen for the benefit of security work.”
Last month, security forces announced the seizure of “advanced and dangerous weapons” that were hidden in the desert, and due to be smuggled to Egypt.
The Director of the Tobruk Security Directorate in eastern Libya, said in a press briefing that the “weapons were seized in the southeastern region, in the village of Jaghbub, after we monitored suspicious movements in the region.”
He added that the weapons were confiscated, and called on citizens to “take advantage of the seven-day deadline granted by the Ministry of the Interior to hand over their weapons.” Qaim confirmed the launch of an expanded campaign to collect weapons in the areas controlled by the Libyan National Army (LNA).
He explained that this campaign was launched on the instructions of the Commander-in-Chief of the LNA, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
Qaim added that the expanded campaign “will include the searching of homes, and whoever refuses to hand over what is in his possession to the nearest camp or directorate will be referred to the Anti-Terrorism Prosecution.”
He stated that “after exactly seven days, any dens containing weapons will be raided, in addition to the homes of citizens who did not hand over weapons in their possession.”
The Libyan official pointed out that a committee was formed by the armed forces and the Ministry of Interior, with the help of trained dogs and advanced weapons detection devices.
He stated that anyone who violates this will be subject to legal accountability and referred to the Anti-Terror Prosecution, because the military weapon falls within the scope of the terrorism law, “state security issues.”