Head of Investigation at General Prosecution Office Holds Press Conference on Smuggling Fuel and Trafficking.

Tripoli, 15 March 2018(Lana) The chief of investigation at the Prosecution Office Al Sidiq Al Sour yesterday held a press conference to talk about the crimes crippling the Libyan economy and placing a burden of the daily lives of Libyans including fuel smuggling, illegal migration and trafficking. Al Sour indicated that fuel trafficking starts at Al Zawiyah Refinery where imported fuel is stored in all kinds. Investigations with arrested suspects, satellite images, inferences made by security bodies including the Coast Guard and the Libyan Navy, fuel and gas control committee, the NOC and others have revealed the extent of violation subject of investigation by the Libyan General Prosecution Office, Al Sour said. He added that cooperation with judicial authorities in Europe and the neighboring countries was also crucial in unlocking the mystery of fuel smuggling across the Libyan coast from Zwara, Sabrata and Al Zawiyah especially the fishing harbor in Zwara, with collaboration of officials at Al Zawitah Refinery where large amounts of fuel are transferred to Zwara under protection of some people, before the amounts find their way to trawlers, which ship them to tankers in the wider Sea. Al Sour also indicated that there was evidence to prove that groups or rather formations, to indicate it was an organized crime, which smuggle fuel abroad with the aim of making profit out of it, linked to international networks of companies and persons abroad. Al Sour named two persons Fahmi Salim and his brother Hafedh, who he said controlled the Zwara harbor since 2012 and were behind supply of tankers with diesel oil by trawlers, to be twice a month smuggled to Malta, Italy, Spain and Greece through the Maltese smuggling network run by the Malta national Dandalin Dilano. Inside Libya, Al Sour said a group of three men is engaged in fuel smuggling in an area called Sidi Saed, it includes Elias Al Mansouri, Daniel Al Atoushi and Jamal Al Hasayeri, it is known as the gang of Al Tobou 'tube' in reference to the tube they use to pump fuel to trawlers. This group is connected to the Mohamed Kishlaf known as 'Al Gasab' and also the group of Ahmaed Al Dabashi and others who control the Al Zawiyah Refinery, Al Sour added. However Alsour did indicated that there was judicial cooperation between the Libyan judiciary with the National Department for Combating Mafia and Terrorism Crimes in Italy since October 2017 based on a memorandum of Understanding signed in Palermo to combat organized crime, and the UN anti-corruption treaty ratified by Libya. This cooperation was crucial in Libya's gaining of information about these illegal operations, AlSour said. =Lana=