Libyan authorities reported on, Wednesday, that they had freed 263 migrants of African nationalities who had been held by a smuggling gang under inhuman and unhealthy conditions. The gang reportedly confined them to extort ransom payments from their families.
According to a statement from the Libyan Criminal Investigation Department, two people from the trafficking gang were arrested after a raid on a farm in the Ajdabiya region in the eastern part of the country. One of the arrested individuals is said to be the owner of the farm, while authorities are continuing efforts to arrest other members of the criminal group.
The freed migrants came from Eritrea, Somalia, and Ethiopia, with some of them having been detained for up to eight months. Initial investigations revealed that the gang had been demanding ransom payments ranging from $10,000 to $17,000 from the families of the captives.
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