Libyan authorities release 21-member crew of renegade oil tanker

TRIPOLI, Libya – A Libyan investigator says the crew of a renegade oil tanker seized by the U.S. Navy and handed over to Tripoli has been released and will be deported.

Al-Sadik al-Sour, the head investigator for Libya's prosecutor general, did not give the nationality of the 21 crew members. He said they were referred to border police Monday to send them out of the country.

Three eastern Libya militia members who were aboard the vessel remain in custody.

U.S. Navy SEALs seized the Morning Glory last week in the eastern Mediterranean. It handed it to the Libyan navy, which escorted the tanker to Tripoli.

That operation brought an end to an attempt by a militia from eastern Libya to sell the crude in defiance of the central government in Tripoli.