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Libyan prosecutors with Tripoli government say Emirati held on suspicion of being a spy

Associated Press
Published | Updated

BENGHAZI, Libya – Prosecutors with the Libyan government based in Tripoli say they've detained an Emirati on suspicion of being a spy.

They provided a passport and Emirati identification naming the detained man as Yousuf Saqer Ahmed Mubarak Welayti. They said he was a Dubai police corporal and was arrested with video showing a "foreign embassy" in Tripoli, Libya's militia-held capital.

In a statement Thursday, Dubai police chief Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina said Welayti had been stripped of his commission as a police officer and as a soldier in 2010 over "moral" issues, without elaborating. Al Mazeina said Dubai police had nothing more to do with him. Emirati state media did not immediately report on Welayti's arrest.

Libya is split between an internationally-backed government in Tobruk and the one in Tripoli.