By Ajnadin Mustafa.
Tripoli, . . .[restrict]18 August 2015:
Reports from Egypt that Libyan security forces have pulled out of the main border post at Musaid have been denied by an official there.
The head of public relations at Musaid Security Directorate said that the stories in the Egyptian media about Libyan border forces “disappearing” were untrue. All that had happened, he said, was that Battalion 418, which focused on reconnaissance work, had been pulled out. Other border guards were still there, he said, and cross border traffic was moving normally.
It was announced in Egypt yesterday that Egyptian forces in the border zone had been put on high alert because of the disappearance of Libyan security guards at the Musaid crossing. Egyptian media reported that the Libyan guards had pulled out a few days earlier for unknown reasons.
Meanwhile, a Libyan border patrol is reported to have arrested 67 Egyptian and Sudanese illegal immigrants early this morning some 150 kilometres south of Tobruk on the road from Jaghbub. Believed to have crossed into Libya from the Egyptian oasis of Siwa, they were travelling in three trucks. The driver of one was caught but the other two drivers allegedly threw the migrants off and drove away. [/restrict]
