Libya arrests migrant-smuggling kingpin Abdul Rahman Al Milad

Al Milad, also known as ‘Al Bija’, was detained in Tripoli by Government of National Accord's interior ministry

A Libyan coast guardsman stands on a boat during the rescue of 147 illegal immigrants attempting to reach Europe off the coastal town of Zawiyah, 45 kilometres west of the capital Tripoli, on June 27, 2017. Taha Jawashi / AFP

A migrant craft in distress off the coast of Libya, June 5, 2019 in this picture obtained by Reuters June 6, 2019. Jose Benavente/ Pilotes Volontaires/via Reuters

Libya has intercepted 200 migrants headed for Europe. Reuters

A handout picture released by German migrant rescue NGO Sea-Eye and taken on April 6, 2020, reportedly shows a speed boat of Libyan authorities around a small boat in distress off the Libyan coast during a rescue operation with the NGO vessel "Alan Kurdi". Cedric Fettouche / various sources / AFP

A rescue team approaches migrants on board of rubber dinghy at sea off the coast of Libya, August 22, in this still image taken from the video. Sea-Watch/Handout via Reuters

Migrants rescued by Sea-Watch 4 a week ago in the international waters off Libya watch crew members of civil sea rescue ship Sea-Watch 4 on inflatable boats help migrants to get off the rescue ship funded by British street artist Banksy "Louise Michel" (background) off the coast of Malta, on August 29. Thomas Lohnes / AFP

A boat approaches migrants from Libya aboard a dinghy in the mid Mediterranean Sea. AP

A coast guard vessel navigates past the Ocean Viking docked at left at the Sicilian port of Messina, southern Italy on September 24, 2019. The humanitarian ship docked in Sicily, Italy, to disembark 182 men, women and children rescued in the Mediterranean Sea after fleeing Libya. Cesare Abbate/ANSA via AP

A woman wearing a straw hat arrives at Lampedusa island aboard an Italian Coast Guard boat on August 1 along with other migrants from Tunisia and Libya. AFP

A Libyan coastguard slits a dinghy that was used by migrants trying to reach Europe, at a naval base Ismail Zitouny / Reuters

Authorities in western Libya have arrested a suspected human-trafficking kingpin who has been under sanctions from the UN Security Council, a Libyan ministry source told The National.

Abdul Rahman Al Milad, also known as "Al Bija", was detained by the interior ministry of the Government of National Accord in Tripoli, the source said on Wednesday.

The ministry said Al Milad was detained at the request of the UN Security Council on charges related to human trafficking and fuel smuggling, which he denies.

Tension is high in the Libyan capital after the arrest.

Al Milad leads a coastguard unit in the town of Zawiya, 45 kilometres west of Tripoli, and was accused by the UNSC of violence against migrants and involvement in sinking  boats.

It is also claimed that people his boats have picked up from the Mediterranean Sea have been taken to a detention centre “where they are reportedly held in brutal conditions and subjected to beatings".

A man named Mohammed Kachlaf is “providing protection to him to carry out illicit operations related to the trafficking and smuggling of migrants", the Security Council said.

Kachlaf has also been placed under sanctions by the UN for his role in human trafficking.

In its September report, the UN’s migration agency said nearly 10,000 migrants have been returned to Libya this year, in a 30 per cent increase from 2019.

Last month, Amnesty International said tens of thousands of migrants and refugees in Libya were trapped "in a vicious cycle of cruelty with little to no hope of finding safe and legal pathways out".