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| Africa North |
| Coast guards arrest 580 illegal migrants about to leave Libya |
| 2015-05-07 |
| Libyan coast guards were today reported to have detained 580 migrants about to board a boat to cross the Mediterranean to Europe. The migrants, all said to be from sub-Saharan Africa, were caught west of Tripoli early this morning on the beach between Zawia and Sabratha, according to Al-Nabaa TV. The boat they were about to use was also seized. Asked by reporters later this morning whether the smugglers involved had also been arrested, a spokesman for the Anti-Illegal Immigration Authority, Mohamed Abdussalam, said no, but explained that this was because the smugglers were using a new tactic. Instead of them sailing the boats themselves, he said, they were training one or two of the illegal migrants to do so, thus eliminating the risk of being caught. With migrants paying around $1,000-a-head for the journey to Europe, smugglers try to get as many on a boat a possible, sometimes with catastrophic results. At present, with the daily rate for casual labour at LD 80, migrants can earn enough in three months in Tripoli to pay the smugglers to take them to Europe. |
| Posted by:badanov |