The Libyan National Army (LNA) has seized huge cache of weapons headed to armed groups and terrorist organisations in Mali and Niger.
The second company of the 128th Reinforced Brigade stationed in the region of Ubari, in the south of the country said in a brief statement yesterday, that the operation was carried out 100 kilometres from the city, in southwestern Libya.
Transnational border crimes which include smuggling of weapons, fuel, vehicles, and people through southern Libya, has intensified since the military-political crisis emanating from 2011 civil war.
In April, Niger security forces in the city of Ingal, northern Niger chased and intercepted two cars from Libya, carrying 77 Kalashnikov rifles, two missiles, two pistols, and over 30,000 ammunition rounds. One of the vehicles overturned on the road, and the police were able to arrest the miscreants.
According to a report disclosed by the United Nations in February, there are an estimated 29 million weapons in Libya that have plunged the country into chaos, and negatively impacted neighbouring countries like Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Mali. The report also indicated that Libya has become the world’s largest stockpile of uncontrolled weapons.
In February 2020, President of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki, restated that the situation in Libya could make it an epicentre for arms distribution in Africa.