Libya human trafficking ‘kingpin’ has been assassinated.
The former head of Libya’s coastguard, who was known as a key trafficker of people and fuel, was k!lled by unknown assailants, local media reports.
Major Abd al-Rahman Milad, also known as Al-Bidja, was k!lled Sunday in the town of Sayyad, 25 kilometres west of the capital Tripoli, near the Janzour Naval Academy that he commanded, officials told local media.
Images circulated on news websites and social media showing a bullet-riddled white four-wheel drive on the side of a road, with the body of a man inside it.
Milad, 34, had gained notoriety as a local kingpin in smuggling operations, trafficking everything from migrants to petrol.
Libyan authorities arrested him in October 2020, before he was released the following April and later named as the head of a unit of the coastguard tasked with combatting illegal migration.
Khalid al-Mishri, who is also from Zawiya and heads the High Council of State, called for an investigation into the de.ath of a “man who has always played a mediating role between rival factions” in Zawiya.
Amid the chaos that has gripped Libya over the past decade, the country has become a key launching pad for migrants mostly travelling from sub-Saharan African countries to seek better lives in Europe.
