FCC conducts urgent contacts with Tunisian side

Libya's Fuel Crisis Committee (FCC) has announced that it is in urgent contact with the responsible authorities in Tunisia to release a number of Libyan families detained by some of the smugglers, after the seizure of their cars loaded with electronic devices and carpets. According to the available data, the Libyan authorities gave the kidnappers two hours to release the families, threatening to escalate.

Security sources said that the Libyan families, who had been detained, were released at Ras Jedir border crossing from Medenine. According to the details of the incident, 10 traders prevented Libyan families from passing through, as a reaction after the seizure of their goods. Tunisian security units negotiated with the merchants, and the Libyan families were released in return for negotiating with the Libyan party to retrieve the goods.

The fuel committee, headed by Milad al-Hajrassi, announced that it had received intensive contacts from the Tunisian side as well as from some Libyan parties demanding to open smuggling operations after tension, riots, mass protests and a halt to life.
 
According to the committee's account on Facebook, al-Hajrassi told them that contacts are being made with the official authorities and that they are authorized by these operations by the Libyan people, stressing that the smuggling operations will not be reopened.

The committee said that 95 percent of fuel smuggling operations had been halted since the start of the "Mediterranean Storm" operation to combat the smuggling of fuel on the Libyan coast, stressing the continued defense of the country's capabilities. "We will not allow the smuggling of fuel again," the committee said. The committee noted that the stock has now reached record levels, praising the popular support for the committee.

The Fuel Crisis Committee, originally established by Tripoli municipal council in 2015 to find solutions to the shortage of fuel in the capital, launched what was being called "Operation Mediterranean Storm", with the participation of Libyan naval forces and air force fighters, to counter the smuggling of Libya’s subsidised fuel by sea.