By Maha Ellawati and Ahmed Elumami
Benghazi/Tripoli, 22 May 2013:
Called out following fighting between a number of people in a chalet at . . .[restrict]a tourist complex west of Benghazi, security forces were shocked to find a mass of explosives at the premises.
“We sent a security force immediately to the incident and the force responded with caution because the people were armed,” Colonel Abdullah Shaafi told the Libya Herald.
After the chalet in Nowruz Tourist Village was secured, 200 gelatina bombs and bomb-making were found inside.
The bombs are not thought to have been intended for terrorist use but by fishermen. “The quantities of explosives were suspicious but there were no security concerns – so far,” Shaafi said.
As a result of the find, nine people are being investigated. Six are said to be fishermen and the other three the owners of the chalet.
It had been reported on Facebook that the group was a terrorist sleeper cell, with one of those arrested an Algerian, and that an Algerian flag had been found on the premises.
Shaafi denied this, explaining that one of the fisherman was a football player who collected flags of different countries. [/restrict]
