JOHANNESBURG, July 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — South Africa authorities rounded up 95 Libyans in a raid Friday at a farm that appeared to have been converted into a military training base, police said.
The early morning raid was near the town of White River in the northeastern province of Mpumalanga, about 360 kilometres east of Johannesburg, they said.
“The place, which was initially designated as a training site, appears to have been converted into an illegal military training base,” police said in a statement.
“The 95 individuals taken into custody are all Libyan nationals and are currently being questioned by the relevant authorities.”
Newzroom Afrika television footage from the scene showed a heavy police presence outside the suspected camp, which included green military-style tents and sandbags.
It showed the detained men standing in groups and wearing civilian clothing.
Mpumalanga’s safety and security minister, Jackie Macie, told local media the men had entered the country in April and claimed to be training to be security guards.
However they had “violated their visa”, he said. Authorities were processing the group with the aim of sending them back to their country of origin.
“You can see that this is a military base,” he said, adding police were following up information that there were other similar camps in the area.
“The site was said to be a training camp for a security company but it is a military base by the looks of things,” police spokesman Donald Mdhluli said.
The owner of the security company was a South African national, he said. Police were investigating if he had permission to run the site as a military-style camp.
South African officials will be in touch with Libyan authorities about the group, most of whom were said to be on student visas, he said.
“We do suspect them of serious crime because we have had multiple complaints from the community for cases including rape,” Mdhluli said.
“We are not arresting them now but we are taking them in for questioning and will investigate any criminal activity.”
The raid was launched two days after authorities received intelligence about the site in the province, which adjoins Mozambique and Eswatini.
Most of the men did not speak English and it was not immediately clear whether the Libyans were affiliated to any group, Mdhluli said.
No weapons or illegal substances were found on the site immediately but a search was ongoing, he said.
“We take any threat to the security and stability of our province and country very seriously,” Mpumalanga acting police commissioner Major General Zeph Mkhwanazi said in a statement.
There was no immediate threat to community safety, he added.
South Africa has porous borders and high corruption and criminality which experts say have made it fertile ground for criminal syndicates.
Its security problems have given rise to a huge private security industry.
The country has more than 15,000 security firms employing about 2.8 million guards, providing armed response and training services, according to the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority.
There are also concerns that the country may be a base for jihadist financing in Africa.
The United States Treasury Department announced Tuesday sanctions against what it said were two Daesh operatives based in South Africa.
They used robberies and kidnappings for ransom to raise money, and one was a suspected Daesh trainer and facilitator, it said.
Libya is still struggling to recover from years of war and chaos after the 2011 overthrow of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi.
Although relative calm has returned to oil-rich Libya in the past four years, clashes periodically occur between its myriad armed groups.
Most are allied with either the UN-recognised government in Tripoli or the rival administration based in the east. — NNN-AGENCIES