Libya arrests 124 migrants

QRABULLI, Libya: Libyan authorities have arrested more than 100 people near Tripoli as they were preparing to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, a coastguard official said.
"We arrested 124 migrants including eight women... in Qarabulli as they prepared to head to a boat bound for Europe," he told AFP.
"We received information about their location and it seemed that they were readying to leave so we raided the place and arrested them" on Thursday, the official said. "We will transport these African migrants to a shelter in Tripoli."
An AFP photographer saw groups of people boarding buses at a detention centre in Qarabulli, 60 kilometres east of Tripoli before they were taken to a shelter for migrants in the capital´s Souq al-Ahad neighbourhood.
Libya, with a coastline of 1,770 kilometres, has for years been a stepping stone for migrants seeking a better life in Europe.
People smugglers have taken advantage of chaos in the North African country since the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed dictator Moamer Qadhafi to step up their lucrative business.
The arrest comes after repeated incidents of migrant boats sinking off the Libyan coast on their way to Italy often due to overcrowding on precarious vessels.