Libyan protesters have held 50 Egyptian drivers to pile pressures on Egypt to release detained relatives, a Libyan security official said on Saturday.
“The drivers have been held by relatives of some Libyan fishermen detained in Egypt in a bid to pressure the Egyptian government to release them,” Abdel-Fattah al-Dalal, the security chief of the eastern town of Ajdabiya, said.
“They argue that their relatives had entered Egypt by mistake while hunting,” he said.
Al-Dalal, however, dismissed the allegation, saying that the Libyans had been detained in Egypt for arms smuggling.
The Libyan security official said that efforts have been underway to secure the release of the Egyptian drivers.
Libyan security official Mustafa Abu Fajra had earlier said that Libyan demonstrators had blocked the entry of 50 Egyptian drivers into Ajdabiya in protest against an Egyptian decision to allow a limited number of Libyans to cross into Egypt through the Saloum crossing between the two countries.
Libya has struggled to restore order and contain militancy on the streets, which ran rampant with the armed militias that helped overthrow late leader Muammar Gaddafi.
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