Al-Trabelsi: The previous chaos and the spread of weapons contributed to the exacerbation of fuel smuggling operations.

Tripoli, November 6, 2024 (LANA) - The Minister of Interior in charge of the Government of National Unity, Major General Imad Al-Trabelsi, confirmed that Libya has gone through major challenges in the past years due to fuel smuggling operations, as the state pays a heavy price for these operations because fuel is subsidized.

He said in a press conference today, Wednesday, regarding the developments in the work of the Fuel and Gas Crisis Treatment Committee, that these practices have caused great harm to the Libyan economy, which makes it necessary to confront them and not remain silent about them.

Al-Trabelsi added that the committee is working continuously to monitor fuel distribution operations and secure stations in cooperation with the security directorates.

He pointed out that the spread of weapons contributed to the exacerbation of fuel smuggling operations during the past years and the previous chaos led to the spread of smuggling, but thanks to God first and then to the efforts of the committee, several issues related to smuggling operations were addressed.

The Minister of Interior in charge pointed out that the price of a barrel of fuel reached 120 dinars on the black market in southern Libya.

Al-Trabelsi continued that after closing a number of fuel stations in various regions and following up on the stations that are still open, fuel has become available, unlike before, indicating that 380 million liters of fuel have been provided out of 680 million liters. The Minister of Interior revealed that the work is currently focused on the capital, Tripoli, with plans to expand it to include neighboring regions and cities, stressing that the work of the committee is not linked to any tribal or regional considerations, but rather focuses only on serving the country and providing fuel to citizens.