The Libyan militia carrying out pullbacks in Maltese SAR zone

On 23 May, around 500 people on board a rusty fishing vessel that left from Tobruk in Libya called the migrant hotline Alarm Phone in distress. The boat was adrift within the Maltese search and rescue zone at GPS position N 34 55 E 19 45. Water was entering the boat, and the people on board were using buckets to take the water out.

RCC Malta, which coordinates rescue operations in the Maltese search and rescue zone (SAR), told Alarm Phone that it was aware of the situation and will be taking action.

On 24 May, a vessel called the Tareq Bin Zeyad was moving in weird patterns. Location data on the vessels obtained by Malta-Today shows that the AIS signal of the vessel was switched off for four days until the morning of the 24th.

A position signal obtained 33 minutes before the last distress signal from the vessel shows the Tareq Bin Zeyad to be around 15 nautical miles from the boat. According to the vessel events of the Tareq Bin Zeyad, it entered Maltese waters at 5:47am but immediately left the area.

Apart from two AIS signals at 2:03am and 3:47am, the Tareq Bin Zeyad was not signalling any positions.

Google Earth screenshot of the boat in distress and the Tareq Bin Zeyad between the 23 and 24 May

Rescue NGOs tried to search the area of the last distress signal in Maltese SAR but found nothing. It was only two days later, on 26 May, that they found out through a relative of someone on board that the 500 people were brought back to Benghazi in Libya. Another relative told Alarm Phone that his brother spoke of Libyan forces who came to the vessel and forced them to turn back.

At the time, the Armed Forces of Malta said that it tried searching for the boat but it was never sighted. It also said that Maltese authorities have no jurisdiction over autonomous actions in international waters.

Documents obtained by MaltaToday showing the ownership of the Tareq Bin Zeyad show that the crew boat is registered in St Kitts & Nevis and was built in Dubai. It was registered on September 2020, but it expires in August this year.

The boat is owned by 2020 Volume Boats Maintenance & Re-pairing LLC, a company based in Dubai. However, it is managed by Al Mouj Shipping Co LLC, also based in Dubai.

A source familiar with the vessel told MaltaToday that it used to be called Charlie 4, and would sail in South East Asia. Now, it appears to be used by a military brigade in Eastern Libya.

Brigade led by son of Khalifa Haftar

The Tariq Ben Zeyad brigade is led by Commander Saddam Haftar, the son of military leader Khalifa Haftar, and forms part of Haftar’s Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF). It is one of the largest armed groups under the LAAF.

However, this brigade is known for its aggressive behaviour and even human rights abuses. Amnesty International has reported at length on the human rights abuses by the Tariq Ben Zeyad, which include abductions, torture, and unlawful killings.

A Libyan man in LAAF/TBZ brigade uniform posing with the Tareq Bin Zeyad vessel behind him

Between 2017 and 2022, the Tareq Bin Zeyad brigade arbitrarily detained 25 people because of their political views or affiliations. Three of the detainees were found dead, four remain forcibly disappeared, and another three continue to be arbitrarily detained.

The remaining 15 people were released after either spending as long as five years in prison or after paying extortionate ransoms. These people maintain they were subjected to beatings, floggings, or being suspended in ‘contorted positions’.

On social media, Amensty International found several posts showing members of the brigade loading refugees and migrants into trucks to be taken to the Libyan border with Niger.

In the background, the Tareq Bin Zeyad vessel with its previous name written on the side: Charlie 4

On 7 July, migrant rescue NGO Sea-Watch published photos of a boat with 250 people onboard and in distress. An audio clip uploaded online by the NGO shows a brief communication with a nearby merchant ship San Felix.

In the clip, the members on board the San Felix told the NGO that it was told by RCC Malta that Maltese authorities will be handling the case, and so released them from the distress case.

However, photos captured by the NGO from its aircraft show the 250 people being boarded onto the Tareq Bin Zeyad. It is unclear whether this happened in Maltese SAR.

A day later, Sea-Watch confirmed that the 250 people in distress were brought back to Benghazi.

Recently a joint journalistic investigation from Lighthouse Re-ports, Der Spiegel, and El Pais confirmed that it is the Tariq Bin Zeyad brigade carrying out the pullbacks to Benghazi.

Moreover, four of those who died in the Greek shipwreck last June were on board the boat that was pulled back to Libya from Maltese SAR on 25 May.

Benghazi is becoming an increasingly popular point of departure for migrants looking to get to Europe. It is particularly popular among smugglers using the air route to bring Asian and Middle Eastern migrants to Libya.

MaltaToday had reported that hundreds of Bangladeshi migrants are being smuggled aboard charter flights into Libya, with criminal groups charging migrants €1,500 each to be transferred from Syria to Libya, using flights operated by Syrian airline Cham Wings.

MaltaToday understands that Bangladeshi and Syrian migrants are being favoured by criminal networks in Libya as they pay higher rates to the groups.

As EU leaders get to grips with migration, many have turned to the Eastern Libya military leader Khalifa Haftar, who has risen to become a central figure to Libya’s military-political complex.

Last May, a Maltese diplomatic delegation met with Haftar for talks in Benghazi. This was the first time a Maltese delegation met with the military general.

MaltaToday understands that the meetings with Haftar were focused on thematic issues, including security challenges in the region with regards to irregular migration.

The delegations agreed to extend military cooperation between the respective navies and military forces.

This article was written with research support from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation.