Carmelo Grech was detained in Libya just over two weeks ago.Carmelo Grech was detained in Libya just over two weeks ago.

Carmelo Grech, the man reported missing in Libya, is being detained by anti-Islamist General Khalifa Haftar’s army after he and three other men were allegedly caught carrying over €300,000 in an airport in east Libya, according to sources.

The sources told this newspaper that Mr Grech, a maritime captain who has “strong links” to Libya, was detained at the Al Abraq airport in the city of Al Bayda over two weeks ago, just as he was preparing to board the plane with a Jordanian, Saud Abdelrahman Saud, and two Algerians.

Militia of Haftar’s Libyan National Army arrested Mr Grech together with his three companions and took him to their headquarters in the city of Al Marj, 83km east of Benghazi, where he was still being detained yesterday, the sources added.

A government spokesman said the government was closely monitoring the situation and working closely with the Libyan authorities to secure Mr Grech’s release.

It is public knowledge that this man was active in supporting the revolution

While in Libya Mr Grech was contacted to travel to Benghazi to collect the cash, sources said. It is not yet clear why he picked up this sum.

This, however, was not the end of his journey, as sources said that from Benghazi, Mr Grech turned around and travelled 170km back to Al Bayda’s airport.

Mr Grech’s disappearance was the subject of speculation yesterday, and the initial theory was that he had been detained due to some form of visa irregularity.

Media reports on Tuesday said Mr Grech had been arrested on arrival in Libya just over a week ago due to visa problems. He was believed to have been in possession of travel documents issued by the administration in Tripoli which are not accepted by the internationally recognised Tobruk government.

The Tripoli government’s chargé d’affaires, Hussin Musrati, said yesterday however that this was unlikely as he had not been issued with any official visa by the Tripoli government.

Speaking from the Tripoli government’s embassy in Attard, Mr Musrati said the visa registration system was centralised and only operated by his office, which had not processed any applications for Mr Grech.

The Maltese government earlier this year issued a safety warning to Maltese considering travelling to Libya, urging them to do so “only if necessary”.

Mr Musrati said despite the warnings several Maltese regularly travelled to the conflict-torn State, and some 400 visas had been issued to Maltese so far this year.

Speculating about what could have possibly happened, Mr Musrati questioned whether Mr Grech had been kidnapped, particularly due to his public involvement in the Libyan revolution.

It is just a game to make money

He said Mr Grech was well known in Libya for having helped transport doctors and medical aid across the country during the anti-Gaddafi uprising in 2011.

“It is public knowledge that this man was active in supporting the revolution,” he said.

This, Mr Musrati speculated, could have prompted militias to detain Mr Grech – acts of vengeance were not uncommon in the “unsafe parts of Libya”.

This was not the only possibility dwelled upon yesterday. Mr Musrati also suggested that Mr Grech could have been involved in a “harmless business kidnapping”.

Shrugging this off as one of the better possible outcomes, Mr Musrati said: “It is well known that several organised criminal gangs are kidnapping foreigners for ransom money. It is just a game to make money.”

He then added that a group of four Italians reported missing in Libya earlier this month were involved in a similar organised kidnapping and would most likely be returned to safety once the ransom was paid.

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