Egyptians rescued from ‘criminal gang’ in Libya: Army

By Mohamed Mahmoud

CAIRO (AA) - At least 13 Egyptian nationals have been released in Libya after being held since last December by a "criminal gang", according to an Egyptian army statement issued Tuesday.

"The Egyptian armed forces, in coordination with the General Command of the Libyan Army, managed to secure the release of 13 Egyptian nationals who had been abducted earlier by an armed criminal gang in Libya’s northeastern town of Ajdabiya," Egyptian army spokesman Tamer al-Rifai was quoted as saying in the statement.

He did not provide any information regarding the "criminal gang" that allegedly abducted the Egyptians.

"We have contacted their [i.e., the abductees’] families and informed them of the deportation procedures and their imminent return to their country," he added.

The statement did not provide details as to when or how the abductions took place.

The Egyptian authorities have no precise statistics on the number of Egyptians currently living and working in Libya, but their number is believed to be in the hundreds of thousands.

Recent years have seen many Egyptian nationals abducted in chaos-wracked Libya, most of whom were eventually released.