Italian authorities announced on Friday the arrest of 24-year-old Somali leader Elmi Mouhamud Muhidin, for kidnapping, extortion and rape against 130 Eritrean migrants who survived a shipwreck off the coast of Sicily in October, Reuters reported.
The case, which has brought attention to the violent gangs who traffic people from Africa to Europe, is comprised of testimony from all the survivors of the shipwreck which killed 360 migrants out of the 600 being transported, according to Reuters.
The 130 Eritrean migrants were found by Muhidin, who led an armed gang of over 50 Somali and Sudanese members, as they walked through the Sahara desert between Sudan and Libya in July, according to an arrest warrant viewed by Reuters.
Witness testimony claims Muhidin was behind a machine gun on top of a pick-up truck when they found the lost Eritreans and was the commander at the compound where they were taken and held, according to Reuters.
The group of migrants, made up of women, children and men, were then taken to Sabha, Libya where all 130 of them were kept in one room and fed a handful of rice every couple of days, Reuters reported. All but a four-year-old boy were tortured and submitted to electric shock, and all the women were raped.
The migrants said they were forced to pay $3,300 for each of their freedoms and transport to the capital of Tripoli, where they were passed on to another group of smugglers, according to Reuters.
After Muhidin arrived at the immigrant center on Oct. 25 in Lampedusa, where the second boat the Eritrean migrants were on sank off the coast. Muhidin's victims attacked and almost lynched him after he crossed the ocean in a boat he made himself, according to the warrant, Reuters reported.
According to Investigators, Muhidin has not spoken to a lawyer, entered a plea or spoken to a lawyer since being flown to the Sicilian capital of Palermo on Thursday, but said if convicted he may face a maximum prison sentence of 30 years, according to Reuters.
Last month's capturing of Libya's Prime Minister Ali Zeidan and the testimony of the migrant survivors of the Lampedusa shipwreck confirm suspicions and fear of humanitarian groups about dangers of migrants crossing through Libya, Reuters reported.
Since the Lampedusa shipwreck, Italy, which is destination for two thirds of the boats that depart from Libya, has increased navy patrols and are using drones to search for boats during the crossing, Reuters reported.
