Four suspected people smugglers have been arrested in Libya as a result of joint work between the National Crime Agency and Libyan police.
The group were detained in locations across the country after the NCA worked with law enforcement partners to target criminal networks moving migrants across the Mediterranean into Europe.
The most significant arrest, on 12 March, saw NCA officers supporting Libyan colleagues to secure the detention of a man implicated in the transportation of hundreds of Syrian migrants across the central Mediterranean using fragile fibreglass boats.
The man, who was located and arrested in Tripoli following months of intelligence development by the NCA and Libyan partners, is suspected of being a significant member of a Syrian people smuggling network who have moved at least two thousand people into Europe.
Evidence on his phone suggested the end destination for some of those smuggled would be the UK.
It followed the arrest on 10 March of a second suspected people smuggler who was detained in the northeast coastal town of Tobruk. He was identified by the NCA as being implicated in the smuggling of migrants of various nationalities into Greece.
Earlier this year, in January, a Sudanese national was arrested in the northwestern city of Sabratha. At the time of his detention by local authorities, he was in charge of 11 Iraqi Kurdish migrants who were due to be transported into Europe.
Police in Sabratha also detained a Syrian national suspected of arranging the transportation of around 400 migrants. He’s alleged to have been part of a network involved in the large-scale smuggling of people in boats.
In both cases, the NCA and Libyan partners continued investigations into the wider criminal networks involved.
All four men now face prosecution by the Libyan Attorney General’s Office.
The arrests come as the NCA expands its international footprint to target people smuggling networks impacting the UK through intelligence sharing and capacity building.
The arrests in Libya come after the conviction of a UK-based people smuggler who was organising crossings from the North African country to Italy.
NCA investigators, working with Italian partners, were able to evidence Egyptian national Ahmed Ramadan Mohamad Ebid’s involvement in at least seven separate crossings, which brought around 3,800 people across in 2022 and 2023.
The 42-year-old, who was living in Isleworth, London, during the time of his offending, had previously pleaded guilty to people smuggling offences but claimed he had only played a small part in the crossings.
Following a Newton Hearing, a judge rejected his claims on Friday, 28 March, accepting evidence gained by the NCA demonstrating his organisational role.
He will be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on 19 May 2025.
