Western Libyan security forces say they killed notorious migrant smuggler

Proliferation of gangs and lack of a strong central authority have made human trafficking rife

Ahmed Al Dabbashi, who had been under US and UN sanctions since 2018, was killed in a raid on his hideout. Photo: Jamestown Foundation

Western Libyan security forces said on Friday they had killed a notorious migrant smuggler in the coastal city of Sabratha after “criminal gangs” affiliated with him attacked one of their checkpoints overnight.

The Security Threats Combating Agency, operating under western Libya's Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, said they raided the group's hideout in response to the attack and killed its leader, Ahmed Al Dabbashi, also known as Al Amu.

Mr Al Dabbashi's brother was arrested and six members of the force were wounded in the fighting, the agency said in a statement on its Facebook page.

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He had been under US and UN sanctions since 2018. Washington described him as the “leader of one of two powerful migrant smuggling organisations” based in Sabratha and said he had “used his organisation to rob and enslave migrants before allowing them to leave for Italy”.

Migrants being brought back to port after being intercepted by the Libyan coast guard, in Gasr Garabulli, north-western Libya. AP Photo

Human trafficking is rife in Libya, which has been divided between rival armed factions since the 2011 Nato-backed uprising that toppled long-time dictator Muammar Qaddafi.

The proliferation of smuggling gangs and the absence of a strong central authority have made the country one of the main staging points for migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe.

Last month, the UN said another 42 people had gone missing and were presumed dead after a boat carrying 49 migrants and refugees capsized off the coast.

In mid-October, 61 bodies of migrants were recovered from the coastline west of Tripoli. In September, the International Organisation for Migration said at least 50 people died after a vessel carrying 75 Sudanese refugees caught fire.

Mr Dbeibah was installed through a UN-backed process in 2021, but significant parts of western Libya remain outside his control. His Government of National Unity, or GNU, is not recognised by rival authorities in the east.

An armed alliance affiliated with an earlier UN-backed government in Tripoli – the Government of National Accord – took on Mr Dabbashi's forces in a three-week battle in 2017 that killed and wounded dozens and damaged residential areas and Sabratha's Roman ruins.