The sources said the facility was located underground and was nearly three metres deep.
Libyan security authorities have uncovered a secret underground detention facility in the southeastern town of Kufra, leading to the release of more than 200 migrants held in inhuman conditions.
Two security sources from Kufra told Reuters on Sunday that the migrants were freed after authorities discovered what they described as a secret prison operated by a Libyan human trafficker.
The sources said the facility was located underground and was nearly three metres deep.
One of the sources said the suspect behind the operation had not yet been detained, as investigations continue into the operation of the prison.
“Some of the freed migrants were held captive for up to two years in underground cells,” the source said.
Another security source described the discovery as unprecedented in scale and severity within the area.
The source said the operation had uncovered “one of the most serious crimes against humanity that has been uncovered in the region.”
Providing further details, one of the sources said: “The operation resulted in a raid on a secret prison within the city, where several inhumane underground detention cells were uncovered.”
The freed migrants are from sub-Saharan Africa, mainly from Somalia and Eritrea, including women and children, the sources said. Kufra is located in eastern Libya, about 1,700 kilometres from the capital, Tripoli.
Libya has become a major transit route for migrants fleeing conflict and poverty in their home countries, and attempting to reach Europe through dangerous desert crossings and Mediterranean Sea routes since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011.
While Libya’s oil-based economy attracts impoverished migrants seeking work, weak security across the country has left many migrants exposed to trafficking, detention and abuse.
Last week, at least 21 bodies of migrants were found in a mass grave in eastern Libya, with up to 10 survivors reportedly showing signs of torture before they were freed from captivity, according to two security sources.
Libya’s attorney general said on Friday that authorities in the east had referred a defendant to court for trial over the mass grave, on charges of “committing serious violations against migrants.”
Last February, 39 migrant bodies were recovered from about 55 mass graves in Kufra, a town that also hosts tens of thousands of Sudanese refugees who fled the conflict that erupted in Sudan in 2023.