Libyan security forces have freed more than 200 migrants who were being held in a secret prison in the southeastern city of Kufra after being held in inhumane conditions.
Libyan security forces told Reuters they had discovered an underground prison they said was run by a Libyan smuggling ring.
One of the sources said the man had not yet been arrested. Some of the migrants freed had been held in underground cells for up to two years, in what has been described as one of the most serious crimes against humanity ever discovered in the region.
The operation led to a raid on a secret prison in the city, where several underground cells were found holding hundreds of people in horrific conditions.
The freed migrants came from sub-Saharan African countries, particularly Somalia and Eritrea, and included women and children, according to Libyan authorities.
Since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011, Libya has become a transit point for migrants escaping conflict and poverty to Europe, facing dangerous journeys.
Last week, at least 21 bodies of migrants were found in a mass grave in eastern Libya, while up to 10 survivors from the group showed signs of torture before being freed from their captors, two security officials told Reuters.
In February last year, 39 bodies of migrants were exhumed from about 55 mass graves in Kufra. The city is home to tens of thousands of Sudanese refugees who fled the conflict that erupted in Sudan in 2023.
