Joint security patrols to fight smuggling at Libyan-Tunisian border
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Joint security patrols of Libya have been set up in the Al-Assa region on the Libyan-Tunisian border, to improve security and fight cross-border smuggling, the Libyan Interior ministry of the Government of National Accord announced on Friday.
The Libyan-Tunisian border is the scene of a vast smuggling of consumables including gasoline to Tunisia, causing losses to the Libyan state estimated at several billion dollars a year.
In a statement, the ministry said that the security directorates of Regdaline (west), Al-Jemil and Zliten have formed joint patrols in the Al-Assa region to combat this phenomenon that threatens the security of the country and the depletion of economic resources.
It also hailed the efforts of the regional security directorates to maintain security and combat the smuggling operations that drain the state's economic resources.
The ministry called on "all citizens to unite to ensure security at all levels", noting that security services under its supervision cannot succeed alone in this case without the assistance of all national actors.
It also called on all Libyans to join the path toward reconciliation, believing that this is the only way to achieve stability and security in all Libyan regions.
Early March, the Libyan interior minister of the GNA, Fathi Bachagha and his Tunisian counterpart, Hichem Fourati agreed to bring together "the Libyan-Tunisian Joint Security Committee as soon as possible to set up a mechanism for dealing with any crisis or problem that may arise at border posts and the establishment of a border monitoring mechanism between the two parties.
Problems regularly arise at the common border posts between the two countries, leading to their closure, although they constitute a real lifeblood of their economic exchanges which fell to US$600 million a year from US$2 billion in 2010.
-0- PANA BY/JSG/BBA/AR 9Mar2019
