Yannis Behrakis/Reuters
Barbie Latza Nadeau, Daily Beast: Did Italy Just Assassinate Libya's Migrant Smuggling Kingpin?
Salah Al-Maskhout was the mastermind behind one of the largest migrant smuggling rings in the Mediterranean. On Friday, he and his guards were all shot and killed.
ROME – For months, humanitarian aid workers and Europe’s leaders have been wringing their hands about how to stop the human traffickers who are responsible for the deluge of migrants and refugees making the dangerous crossing from Libyan ports to European shores. There has been talk of everything from destroying smugglers ships to infiltrating the traffickers’ networks, but apparently a more basic plan was also in the works.
On Saturday morning Salah Al-Maskhout, a former henchman for Muammar Gaddafi thought to be the mastermind behind the main Mediterranean trafficking ring operating in the seas between North Africa and Europe, was killed in Tripoli during an ambush along with eight of his body guards.
Update #1: Smuggling kingpin apparently killed with bodyguards in Libya - but who did it? -- The Telegraph
Update #2: Libyan media: Key human trafficker killed -- Deutsche Welle
WNU Editor: His family is denying reports that he was assassinated .... Salah Maskhout not killed in Tripoli attack; identity mix-up blamed (Libya Herald). But considering the fact that the smuggling of migrants is now a big business and Libya is a free-for-all .... coupled with scores of grieving families who have lost loved ones in their migration to Europe .... for those who are involved in this business they should not be surprised that murder and mayhem is par for the course right now.
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