Libyan army says Muslim Brotherhood stole Central Bank money

Asmaa Al-Batakouchi

The Muslim Brotherhood in Libya has been supporting and funding terrorist groups all over the country to firmly establish its roots into the capital, Tripoli. Brigadier General Khalid al-Mahjoub, the spokesperson of Tripoli Operations Room of the Libyan National Army (LNA), has warned in press remarks that the group, while controlling the Libyan central bank, has stolen over $200 billion in Libyan funds to support the brotherhood in Tunisia and Egypt.

Al-Mahjoub further added that terrorists in Libya, who are being financed by Qatar and Turkey, cannot face the Libyan army, pointing out that the Parliament has designated the brotherhood as a terrorist group, stressing the fact that it has been instigating terrorism and chaos all over Libya to remain in power, despite its fall in the majority of Arab countries.

Brig. Gen. Ahmed al-Mismari, spokesperson for the Libyan National Army, carried the terrorist group responsible for the suicide bombing that took place on July 11, 2019 which resulted the killing of five people and the injury of several others in the city of Benghazi during the funeral of General Khalifa al-Mismari, former commander of the special forces.

President of the Libyan House of Representatives Aguila Saleh Issa also accused the Muslim Brotherhood of attempting to impose control over Libya, and that it has been responsible for a series of thefts, crimes and terrorism support in Libya.

Moreover, Turkey has been breaching a UN Security Council resolution banning the sale and transfer of arms to Libya. The Libyan customs authorities have reported seizing a shipment of arms and combat vehicles in al-Khoms port, west of Libya, of Turkish origin.

The Customs Department seized in al-Khoms port in last November two shipments of Turkish arms and ammunition, including 3,000 9-mm pistols, 120 pistols, 400 hunting rifles and 4 million pistol rounds.

It was not the first time that weapons and explosives had been seized coming from Turkey to Libya, where in January 2018, the Greek Guard seized a ship was carried explosives, it was described as a “mobile bomb”

Before that, Greece revealed in January that it had found Turkish weapons on a ship heading to Libya after stopping in Greece due to bad weather.

Since the start of the so-called Arab Spring, the AKP authorities have been supplying arms and ammunition to terrorist gangs in the region. Turkey has also opened its airports to terrorists from around the world and transported them to Syria, Iraq and other Arab countries to fight there.

The Libyan authorities have seized more than 20,000 Turkish guns inside a container in the city of Misurata’s port.

“A 20-foot container carrying Turkish pistols has been seized. Inside the container were some household items and toys as camouflage,” said a statement issued by Misurata’s Customs Department.

“Some 556 cartons were found, and each contains 36 pistols,” the statement said.

Also, Libyan authorities last year seized two shipments of arms from Turkey to the port of the western city of Khoms.

In this regard, political analyst Mahmoud Al-Zubaidi told The Reference in an interview that all the evidence the sabotage role played by Turkey in Libya, which was evident through its support of extremist groups, especially the Muslim Brotherhood and the Libyan militias, led by terrorist Abdelhakim Belhaj, who currently resides in Istanbul.

He further added that the funds possessed by the Muslim Brotherhood were going directly to Turkey and the Muslim Brotherhood leaders in Istanbul, while Turkey provided them with weapons.

According to Al-Zubaidi, they also seized the oil money and funds of the Central Bank, which entirely consists of Muslim Brotherhood employees. He pointed out that they possessed funds so that they could purchase weapons.

He added that the smuggling of weapons and missiles to Tripoli to target the Libyan army forces led by Marshal Khalifa Haftar, is one of the most important roles played by Turkey in Libya.