By Maha Ellawati.
Benghazi, 18 January 2013:
A suspected drugs dealer was killed in Benghazi early this morning, Friday, in a shootout with . . .[restrict]the police.
Walid Abu-Shaala was, according to officials, a major local drugs supplier.
The police raided his family home in the city’s 20th Street at around 1.30 am. It is reported that there were then violent fighting between the police and his family, with the family firing RPG and the police using automatic weapons. Abu-Shaala was killed.
There are no reports of any other injuries.
A crackdown on drugs is going on across the country. In Tripoli, anti-drugs units under the control of the Ministry of the Interior have been active for the past six weeks arresting suspected dealers although controversy surrounds the death of one of them while in custody.
The government is also trying to clamp down on cross-border drugs smuggling. As well as its own drugs problem, Libya is being used as a corridor to smuggle drugs to Egypt and to Europe. [/restrict]
