Libyan authorities intensify efforts to dismantle trafficking networks that subject migrants to torture in hidden detention facilities

Libyan authorities intensify efforts to dismantle trafficking networks that subject migrants to torture in hidden detention facilities

Libya continues its crackdown on human trafficking gangs that torture migrants trying to pass from Africa to Europe.

Libyan authorities have arrested at least five suspected human traffickers and freed 104 migrants who were held in airless underground chambers on a farm in Ajdabiya, where mass graves had been discovered earlier this year.

Some of the victims were allegedly filmed while being tortured to extort ransom from their families. They were found chained, beaten, and deprived of food and water for days. The operation is part of Libya’s ongoing crackdown on trafficking networks in the country, a major transit point for migrants attempting to reach Europe.