Charges brought by South African prosecutors against 95 Libyans arrested on suspicion of receiving training at an unapproved military camp have been dropped.
The case was withdrawn for lack of sufficient evidence, said National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Monica Nyuswa.
The men were only charged with breaching South Africa’s immigration laws and will be deported to their home country.
The Home Affairs department said in a statement it would ensure “the deportations are conducted swiftly”.
One of the men’s lawyers, Nico du Plessis, told Associated Press the group was “happy” the charges had been dropped.
The men have only been charged with breaching South Africa’s immigration laws and will be deported to their home country.
The Home Affairs department said in a statement it would ensure “the deportations are conducted swiftly”.
One of the men’s lawyers, Nico du Plessis, told Associated Press the group was “happy” the charges had been dropped.
The group is expected to be deported to Benghazi, Libya’s second city.
Since the overthrow and assassination of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the country has suffered from chronic insecurity.
The Libyans were arrested in July after South African police raided a farm in White River, a small town in the northern province of Mpumalanga.
At the time of the arrest, a police spokesman said the men had “misrepresented themselves” in their visa applications, claiming they were to train as security guards.
Registered firearms and military tents were found in the camp, along with cocaine and cannabis.
The camp was originally registered as a training site for a private security company but appears to have been converted, a second police spokesman, Donald Mdhluli, was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.
Mdhluli said the owner of the security company was a South African national and police were investigating whether he had permission to run the site as a military-style camp.
Even if the men were deported, there will still be an investigation into the owners of the farm.
Source: BBC News
