Mohamed Algarj
Eight files involving drugs and psychotropic substances appeared in releases from Libya’s Office of the Public Prosecutor during the first half of 2026. Six ended in judgments. One remained at the investigation and pretrial-detention stage. The eighth concerned the release of a person convicted of drug trafficking in breach of procedure.
Only two of the eight files disclosed an exact quantity: 4,500,000 pregabalin tablets seized at the Misrata Free Zone Port, and 741,481 psychotropic pills transported through Murzuq. Together, the published figures amount to 5,241,481 pills.
Follow the record closely and a wider drug economy begins to emerge — along with the large gaps that remain in the information released to the public.
pills were disclosed in exact numbers in just two of the eight drug-related case files reviewed.
Two files supplied the numbers; six supplied no quantities
On 26 April, the prosecution announced the seizure of 4.5 million pregabalin tablets inside a container that had arrived on a cargo vessel from India at the Misrata Free Zone Port. The investigation found that the importing company’s details had been falsified in the customs documents. Prosecutors ordered the pretrial detention of three suspects and the arrest of other alleged participants whose number was not disclosed.
Three days later, the prosecution announced a case involving the transport of 741,481 psychotropic pills through Murzuq. The Zintan Criminal Court convicted three people and sentenced them to death by firing squad for importing and trafficking the substances, as well as seven years’ imprisonment for possessing a weapon and ammunition. The court also ordered the confiscation of the substances and vehicles used in the smuggling operation.
Yet an analysis of every file in this drug-case set shows that the true quantity addressed by the releases was larger than the published total. In a case involving drugs hidden inside vehicles imported from Antwerp to Tripoli, the weight of the seized material was not stated. In the Wadi al-Aki cannabis-cultivation case, the releases did not state the farm’s area, the number of plants or the weight of the crop.
The prosecution also did not publish quantities for cocaine, hashish and pills described as “Rouge” in one Tripoli case. It did not identify the drug or its quantity in a second case in which three people were convicted, and it did not state the weight of the cocaine seized from another four-person trafficking group.
More than 5.2 million pills is therefore not the total quantity of drugs addressed by the prosecution during the first half of the year. It is the minimum that can be added from the only two of eight files containing explicit quantities.
From Antwerp and India to Misrata, Murzuq and Tripoli
The eight files describe multiple routes: drugs concealed inside vehicles imported from Antwerp, with wanted suspects reported to be in Malta; millions of pills shipped from India to Misrata; another consignment moved overland through Murzuq; local cannabis cultivation in Wadi al-Aki; and three trafficking networks identified in Tripoli.
The eighth file exposed a different route through a correctional institution. After a person convicted of drug trafficking was released contrary to procedure, prosecutors ordered the prisoner’s return and the pretrial detention of the institution’s director and a judicial police officer.
The record is not one smuggling operation. It is a chain extending from overseas supply, ports and land routes to local cultivation and urban distribution — and finally to the enforcement of sentences inside prisons.
Twenty-seven convicted; five held in pretrial detention
The six cases that reached judgment produced 27 convictions as reported: nine in the case involving vehicles imported from Antwerp, five in the Wadi al-Aki cannabis case, three in the Murzuq case, three in the cocaine, hashish and “Rouge” pills case, three in another Tripoli trafficking case, and four in the cocaine-trafficking group.
The two files that remained at the investigation stage involved five people held in pretrial detention: three in the Misrata shipment, plus the correctional-institution director and the judicial police officer in the unlawful-release case.
Those five are not added to the 27 convicted people as if their legal status were the same. Pretrial detention is not a judgment of guilt.
A midpoint scenario worth about $8.2 million
The Office of the Public Prosecutor did not publish the purchase price, wholesale value or retail value of the pills, nor did it disclose the value of the vehicles and other assets confiscated. A monetary figure can therefore be presented only as a transparent scenario, not as a value established by investigators.
At an illustrative LYD 10 per pill, the 5,241,481 disclosed pills would be worth LYD 52,414,810. Converted at the official benchmark of LYD 6.3759 per US dollar applicable after the Central Bank’s January 2026 exchange-rate decision — and in force when the two quantified cases were announced in April — that is approximately $8.2 million.
| Assumed value per pill | Implied LYD value | Approx. USD at LYD 6.3759/$1 |
|---|---|---|
| LYD 5 | LYD 26,207,405 | $4.1 million |
| LYD 10 | LYD 52,414,810 | $8.2 million |
| LYD 20 | LYD 104,829,620 | $16.4 million |
At LYD 5 per pill, the scenario falls to about $4.1 million. At LYD 20, it rises to approximately $16.4 million. These are arithmetic estimates built around an explicit assumption. They do not include the drugs whose quantities were omitted from the other six files.
is the midpoint scenario at LYD 10 per disclosed pill, converted at the official 2026 benchmark — not a value established in the investigation.
The financial story is not limited to the price of the pills. Moving more than five million tablets requires finance, companies, customs documents, vessels, vehicles, storage and distributors — followed by channels capable of collecting, concealing or recycling millions of dollars. The releases, however, did not disclose the value of frozen funds, the bank accounts traced or the assets ultimately confiscated.
Mohamed Algarj
Accountability questions
1. What was the actual value of the drugs seized across the eight files, and why were quantities omitted in six of them?
2. Who financed the Misrata shipment, and which companies, accounts and assets were used to import and distribute it?
3. Were the Antwerp, Malta, India, Misrata, Murzuq and Tripoli routes connected through a single financial map of the trafficking networks?
Methodology note: This analysis covers all eight drug-related files identified in the Office of the Public Prosecutor’s releases for the first half of 2026. The pill total is the sum of the two files that disclosed exact quantities; missing quantities in the other six files are stated rather than estimated. Dollar scenarios use the official LYD 6.3759-per-dollar benchmark applicable after the Central Bank’s 18 January 2026 exchange-rate decision and are rounded. They are illustrative calculations, not prices or asset values established by prosecutors or a court.