TRIPOLI, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Libyan authorities said on Tuesday they had freed 82 migrants who were held captive by a criminal group demanding ransom.
The Jufra District Police said in a statement the migrants were tortured and raped to force their families to pay thousands of dollars for their release.
Four members of the criminal group were arrested in the central town of Zillah, about 750 km southeast of the capital Tripoli, where the migrants had been detained, Libya's Attorney General's office said.
One of the arrested suspects admitted that 10 migrants had been tortured to death in captivity and that ransoms of up to 10,000 U.S. dollars per person were demanded, authorities said.
Last month, Jufra District Police reported the arrest of a group of migrant smugglers in Zillah accused of killing migrants and burying their bodies in the desert, as well as kidnapping, starving, raping, and selling migrants.
Libya has been a major transit point for migrants, mostly from Africa, seeking to cross the Mediterranean to Europe. The country has faced years of chaos and insecurity since the fall of longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. ■