Tripoli, March 27: Four Tunisian border guards said to have been abducted by an armed group of Libyans thought to be . . .[restrict]smugglers were released on Monday evening. They were safe and well. The four were abducted while on a routine patrol between Lachhad Salah and Labada provinces between Tatouine and Ben Guerdane.
The abduction, the second such incident in less than a month, followed a clampdown by the Tunisian authorities on the smuggling of livestock across the border.
The local Tunisian authorities said they were helped by Libyan revolutionaries who put pressure on the captors into releasing them.
On March 17, a border patrol in the El Ageul area, also near Ben Guerdane, was attacked by armed Libyan group in a 4X4 vehicle. They were also thought to be smugglers. Three of the Tunisian patrolmen managed to flee but a fourth was captured along with the vehicle. He was later released.
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