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By Jamal Adel.
Tripoli, 11 December 2014:
Some 248 illegal immigrants were deported . . .[restrict]from Libya via Kufra yesterday.
The immigrants, Somalis, Eritreans, Sudanese and Nigerians, were loaded into lorries for the long trip from Kufra–a small oasis town traditionally known as an entrance point for illegal immigrants entering Libya—to Sudan.
The deportation was managed by the Kufra Department of Illegal Immigration.
According to Ali Bu Gazalah, a KDII official, many of those being sent out of the country had tested positive for HIV or Hepatitis B.
“The office is trying to cleanse the town of illegal immigrants, especially to avoid any spread of diseases they may be infected with,” said Bu Gazalah.
He said that there are more illegal immigrants who will be leaving the country in the next few days.
In spite of the current armed conflicts in the country the flow of migrants is actually increasing. Human traffickers are making enormous profits by charging as much as US 4,500 to smuggle an individual into Libya. Some, based in Sudan and Chad, bring the immigrants to the border, where they are then passed on to a Libyan smuggler.
Immigrants often pay another US 1,000 to be transported from Kufra to Ajdabiya or from Qatrun to Sebha, with the goal being to reach Tajoura, Zuwara, or Garabulli. From these coastal points, they enter boats in an attempt to cross the Mediterranean and reach European shores.
This past week the UNHCR released a report indicating that 207,000 reached Europe by boat this year, a vast majority of whom had first passed through Libya. A record 3,419 migrants died trying to make the crossing. [/restrict]
