Notorious individuals smuggler who fuelled migrant disaster killed in Libya
A notorious people smuggler who fuelled Europe’s migrant crisis by shuttling countless asylum seekers to Europe has been assassinated near Libya’s capital city.
Abdel-Rahman Milad, once a high-ranking member of Libya’s coastguard, was killed on Sunday in the town of Sayyad, which lies around 15 miles west of Tripoli, near a naval academy he once lead.
Local media outlets published pictures of a bullet-riddled white Toyota Land Cruiser on the side of a road, with a man’s body inside, and said that he had been assassinated, though provided no further evidence.
The 34-year-old was notorious for his role as a smuggler kingpin in the region, known for trafficking everything from fuel to people.
Interpol issued a red notice against him in 2018 after the UN Security Council sanctioned him and five other key members of migrant trafficking networks in the country.
At the time, Milad was described as the head of a coast guard unit in Zawiya ‘that is consistently linked with violence against migrants and other human smugglers’ from rival gangs.
Abdel-Rahman Milad, once a high-ranking member of Libya’s coastguard, (pictured) was killed on Sunday in the town of Sayyad, which lies around 15 miles west of Tripoli
The 34-year-old was notorious for his role as a smuggler kingpin in the region, known for trafficking everything from fuel to people (File image)
Interpol issued a red notice against him in 2018 after the UN Security Council sanctioned him and five other key members of migrant trafficking networks in the country
National leaders were up in arms following the news of his death
UN experts monitoring sanctions claimed Milad and other coast guard members ‘were directly involved in the sinking of migrant boats using firearms.’
Though he was arrested in October 2020 by Libyan authorities, he was released just a few months later and named the head of the coastguard tasked with combatting illegal migration.
National leaders were up in arms following the news of his death, with Abdallah Allafi, of Libya’s Presidential Council, vowing in a Facebook post that the perpetrators would ‘not escape divine punishment’.
Though there was no comment from the Tripoli-based government of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, Moammar Dhawi, a militia leader in western Libya, mourned Milad’s death. In a statement, posted on Facebook, he called for an investigation to bring the perpetrators to account.
Libya has been plagued by corruption and turmoil since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. The county has since then split between two administrations, each backed by armed groups and foreign governments.
Amid the chaos, the oil-rich country has emerged as a major conduit for people from Africa and the Middle East fleeing wars and poverty and hoping to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
