Efforts by the Libyan police force to clamp down on human trafficking and illegal immigration have yielded a major breakthrough in the outskirts of Libya. The discovery of a human trafficking network, led by an unidentified smuggler, has resulted in the rescuing a large number of Somali nationals kidnapped in Libya, mostly women and young men, who have been held captive for over 15 years in small houses.
The squalid conditions in which the group was held captive, coupled with their malnourished state, showcased the horror of human trafficking and the urgency of addressing its root causes. Amongst the group of captives were two young men from the Banadiri group, Sulaiman Muhidin Ahmad and Abdi Muhidin Ahmad, both brothers belonging to the Banaidir Shanshiya tribe.
The two young Banadiri brothers, who have set out to illegally immigrate into Europe 15 years ago, have been missing for ever since, and fears have mounted that they may have fallen victim to the scourge of human trafficking that has plagued Libya for several years. Despite the lack of confirmed identity, relatives of the brothers who saw a video of them being paraded by the police force expressed certainty that it was, in fact, them. The video shows the group being rescued and expressing gratitude for their liberation, with plans being made to return them to Somalia.
Human trafficking has been rampant in Libya for over a decade, with people from Somalia, Ethiopia, and other parts of Africa often making perilous journeys across the country to reach Europe in search of asylum. The discovery of this network is a significant blow to the perpetrators of this heinous crime, and a reminder of the urgent need for concerted efforts to tackle the root causes of this insidious practice.
The video also showed the smuggler who has been arrested taking the police force around the area of operation and revealing the gravesite where other victims of the kidnapping ring had been buried in the desert. This revelation only highlights the gravity of the situation and the need for the swift prosecution of all those involved in the human trafficking network.
