By Farah Waleed and Moutaz Ali.
Tripoli, 7 July 2014:
Cabinet Secretary and government spokesman Ahmed Lamin has called on residents in the . . .[restrict]capital to cooperate with security forces in the capital, in particular over the issue of vehicles with no registration plates and tinted windows.
Speaking at a press conference at the Prime Minister’s office this afternoon alongside him, the head of Tripoli Security Directorate, Colonel Mohamed Al-Suwaisi, added that there would be no let-up in the campaign against such vehicles. They would be targeted, he said, stating that all the available evidence indicated that cars involved in most crimes in the capital had darkened windows and no plates.
Checkpoints in town and at places of entry into Tripoli would enforce the clamp-down, he insisted.
“We have set up as many as 20 permanent checkpoints inside Tripoli. The objective is to seize all cars with dark glass, all cars without registration plates and all weapons found in them which their holders don’t hold permission to carry.”
The aim is to reduce crime in Tripoli by 60 percent, he said.
Suwaisi’s statement is seen as a response to the clashes over the weekend in the west of the capital following an incident at the Ghiran roundabout at the western end of the Tripoli highway when checkpoint guards challenged a member of a local Janzour militia, the Fursan Janzour Brigade, driving a vehicle with darkened windows and without plates.
That incident is currently being investigated, said Suwaisi. He also refuted reports of people being killed in the clashes. No one had been killed, he said, rebutting Fursan’s claims to the contrary.
For his part, the cabinet secretary expressed the government regret over the clashes. Lamin emphasised that the checkpoints have been set up by the Interior Ministry to catch criminals and to stop the assaults on Libyan residents. “We expect all security boards to enhance mutual cooperation between them” Lamin later told the Libya Herald.
Meanwhile, at the press conference, Suwaisi also spoke of plans to clamp down on vehicles jumping red traffic lights. [/restrict]
