The Anti-Illegal Migration Agency in Benghazi City of Libya, has announced the arrest of a gang of more than ten Bangladeshi nationals for human trafficking.
This came after the security officers raided their hideouts in the Nawaghia and Bouhadi areas on the outskirts of the city where they apprehended the suspects.
Among other dubious things, some light weapons were found in their possession.
According to the Libyan Anti-Illegal Migration agency, the gang had kidnapped Bangladeshi refugees, held them in poor and inhumane conditions where they also tortured them.
It seems they held fellow Bangladesh Nationals captives in order to extort money from their families through blackmail.
According to reports, once some of the families managed to eventually settle the ransom money in exchange for the victims’ release, the captives would be set free, but usually in horrid conditions.
The agency also reported that two Libyan citizens were later arrested in connection with the same crime and charged with serving, hiding and cooperating with the gang.
The development comes just within days after The Tanzania Times reported that more than 100 people, believed to be victims of human trafficking, were discovered holed up inside a secret dungeon in the Libyan City of Ajdabia, badly beaten and starving.
Official statement from Tripoli reveals that the Security agencies under the Eastern region government in Ajdabia city, burst into the facility and managed to rescue nearly 105 migrants from what was described as a secret detention site.
The secret dark, damp and menacing vault, into which human beings were squeezed and crammed mercilessly, is believed to have been used by a human trafficking gang and kidnappers holding their victims ransom.
Meanwhile a delegation from the United Kingdom has held meetings with Libyan Officials to Boost Anti-Crime Cooperation.
The high-level UK delegation was led by the Minister for the Middle East and North Africa and the British Ambassador to Libya, met in Tripoli with Major General Mahmoud Al-Ajili.
Major General Mahmoud Al-Ajili is the Head of Libya’s Criminal Investigation Department.
The visit was directed by Acting Interior Minister of Western region government, Imad Trabelsi.
The two sides discussed strengthening cooperation in combating organized crime, human trafficking, and cybercrime cases that are currently on the rise in North Africa.