South African authorities rounded up 95 Libyans on Friday in a raid at a farm that appeared to have been converted into an illegal military training base, police said.
The morning raid was in a remote area outside the town of White River in the northeastern province of Mpumalanga, about 360 kilometres (220 miles) east of Johannesburg.
“The 95 individuals taken into custody are all Libyan nationals and are currently being questioned by the relevant authorities,” police said in a statement.
The Libyans had entered South Africa in April and claimed to be training to be security guards, officials said.
“They allegedly misrepresented themselves on (their) visa application to SA claiming they were coming to train as security guards,” police spokeswoman Athlenda Mathe said in a statement on X.
But police in Mpumalanga “suspect they are receiving military training”, she said, and they were arrested for contravening the immigration act.
Newzroom Afrika television footage from the scene showed a heavy police presence outside the suspected camp, which included green military-style tents.
It showed the detained men standing in groups and wearing civilian clothing.
A sign leading to the facility described it as an academy offering “specialised security training”, an AFP reporter said.
“The place, which was initially designated as a training site, appears to have been converted into an illegal military training base,” the police statement said.
No weapons or illegal substances were found on the site immediately but a search was ongoing, a police official told AFP.
The raid was launched after authorities received intelligence about the site in the province, which adjoins Mozambique and Eswatini.
Mpumalanga’s safety and security minister, Jackie Macie, told local media that authorities were following up information about other similar camps in the area.
Authorities were processing the group with the aim of sending them back to their country of origin, he said.
‘Multiple complaints’
The owner of the security company said to be running the facility was a South African national, police spokesman Donald Mdhluli told AFP.
Most of the detained men did not speak English and it was not immediately clear whether they were affiliated to any group, Mdhluli said.
“We do suspect them of serious crime because we have had multiple complaints from the community for cases including rape,” Mdhluli said.
South Africa has porous borders and high corruption and criminality that experts say have made it fertile ground for criminal syndicates.
Its security problems have given rise to a huge private security industry.
The country has more than 15,000 security firms employing about 2.8 million guards, providing armed response and training services, according to the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority.
There are also concerns the country may be a base for jihadist financing in Africa.
The US Treasury Department on Tuesday announced sanctions against what it said were two Islamic State group operatives based in South Africa.
They used robberies and kidnappings for ransom to raise money, and one was a suspected IS trainer and facilitator, it said.
Libya is still struggling to recover from years of war and chaos after the 2011 overthrow of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi.
Although relative calm has returned in the past four years, clashes periodically occur between its myriad armed groups.
Most are allied with either the UN-recognised government in Tripoli or the rival administration backed by strongman Khalifa Haftar in the east.
Jalel Harchaoui, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in Britain, said rival factions were known to have sought security training abroad to create elite military units.
“This is often done through networks of foreign private companies,” Harchaoui told AFP.
In a statement on Facebook, the UN-recognised Libyan government said it “formally and clearly denies” any affiliation with the group in South Africa and would assist with investigations to find out who they were.
