Illegal smuggling networks which have imprisoned, tortured and abused thousands of migrants trying to cross Libya, “must be tracked and prosecuted”.

That’s according to Othman Belbeisi, who is the UN migration agency IOM’s mission chief, in Libya.

He was speaking after the second flight of the year left Libya for Nigeria on Monday, under the so-called Voluntary Humanitarian Return programme, which allows third country nationals to return home.

Shocking reports exposing a modern-day slave trade and rampant migrant abuse in multiple detention centres last year, has led to a major reassessment of the measures being taken to tackle smuggling along the central Mediterranean migration route, through Libya.

Mr. Belbeisi spoke to Mustafa Al Gamal.

Duration: 6’02”