Pakistanis freed from Libyan trafficking warehouse

CAIRO: Security authorities freed at least 385 Pakistani migrants held in trafficking warehouses in eastern Libya, during an overnight raid.

Al-Abreen, a rights group that helps migrants in Libya, reported that the Pakistani nationals were released from the warehouses in the al-Khueir area, south of the eastern city of Tobruk.

The group also reported that up to 11 migrants were children, with some less than 10 years of age.

According to the Associated Press, the migrants arrived in Libya intending to travel to Europe but were detained by smugglers who demanded a ransom for their release.

Read: Over 15,000 Pakistanis detained in Libyan jails await govt’s help

Most of those freed were then transferred to nearby police headquarters.

It was reported by Dawn that some of the rescued migrants are suffering from diseases, such as scabies, and have been provided food.

Libya is the dominant transit point for migrants from Africa and the Middle East trying to reach Europe. After NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, the country has been in chaos.

Human traffickers have benefited from the decade of instability, smuggling migrants across borders from six nations, including Egypt, Algeria and Sudan. They then pack desperate migrants seeking a better life in Europe into ill-equipped rubber boats and other vessels for dangerous voyages through the Central Mediterranean Sea .

In June, a vessel that departed from Libya carrying an estimated 700 migrants, including about 350 Pakistanis, sank of the Greek coast. Only 104 people, including 12 Pakistanis, were rescued.

See: Greece boat tragedy exposes Pakistan’s migration problem