TRIPOLI, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Libyan Attorney General's office on Wednesday announced releasing 263 migrants held captive by a criminal group in the eastern city of Jalu for ransom.

"Officers of the Criminal Investigation Department investigated the imprisonment of 263 illegal migrants to force their families to pay ransom for their freedom," the office said in a statement published on its official Facebook page.

Two members of the criminal group were arrested, while pursuit is underway for the remaining members, the statement said.

According to the statement, the migrants, being Somali and Eritrean nationals, were brutally tortured by the group during their imprisonment, and their ransom was 17,000 U.S. dollars and 10,000 dollars, respectively.

The group was involved in human trafficking and illegal migration operations from Libya, as well as torture, inhumane treatment and imprisonment of migrants, it said.

Because of the insecurity and chaos in the country since the fall of late leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, many migrants, mostly Africans, chose to cross the Mediterranean Sea to European shores from Libya.

So far this year, 1,806 migrants have been intercepted and returned to Libya, while 32 others died on the Central Mediterranean route, said the International Organization for Migration. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)