Canadian police announced Tuesday that two former U.N. officials in Montreal have been charged with participating in a conspiracy to sell Chinese-made drones and other military equipment in Libya.
RCMP spokesman Sergeant Charles Poirier said the alleged crimes occurred between 2018 and 2021, when the pair worked for the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency headquartered in Montreal.
Police identified the two as Fatih Ben Ahmed Maoek, 61, and Mahmoud Mohamed Elsway Saye, 37. Ms Poiret said they had violated UN sanctions related to the Libyan civil war. This sanction has legal effect in Canada under federal regulations.
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“What we discovered is that through some shell companies they were trying to sell this Chinese military equipment to Libya, which is a direct violation of regulations,” Poirier said. It added that the missiles included large unmanned aircraft capable of carrying up to 300 missiles.
Poirier said the regulation prohibits anyone in Canada from supplying military equipment or financing to the factions fighting in Libya’s civil war. . He said the alleged plot would have benefited one of the two main factions in the conflict, which ended in 2020.
Two former United Nations employees in Montreal have been charged with participating in a conspiracy to sell Chinese-made drones and other military equipment in Libya, Canadian police said. (St. Petersburg)
“The second part of the plan was to export Libyan oil to China,” Poirier said. “At the time, the oil fields were under the control of General Khalifa Hifter, who planned to sell millions of drums of crude oil to China without anyone knowing.”
Mr. Hifter’s self-proclaimed Libyan National Army fought against the United Nations-backed Libyan government and took control of much of the country’s east during the civil war. He continues to be a prominent figure in the area.
Poirier said Mauek, a Canadian national, was arrested Tuesday morning at his home in St. Catherine, Kenya, a suburb of Montreal, and was scheduled to appear in court in Montreal later that day.
Mauek’s alleged accomplice remains at large. An Interpol red notice (a warning sent to police forces around the world) and a warrant for Saye’s arrest were issued across Canada.
Poirier said investigators have no indication that the military equipment or oil ever reached its final destination, but if it did, the two co-conspirators stand to earn millions of dollars in fees. He said that there is.
“The theory behind the motivation is primarily financial,” he says. But he would also have benefited China by allowing covert support for Hifter factions and giving it major access to Libyan oil.
Poirier said the investigation began in 2022 after the RCMP received what it called “credible information.”
Both men had diplomatic immunity due to their work with the United Nations, but ICAO needed to waive that privilege before they could be prosecuted.
The United Nations agency that sets international aviation standards is cooperating with police in the investigation.
“There is no indication that ICAO was aware of this conspiracy until we contacted them,” Poirier said.
Police do not know where Sayeh, a Libyan national, is.
“He could be in Libya, but he could be anywhere given the influence and connections of these guys who worked at ICAO,” Poirier said.
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The U.N. civil aviation agency said in an emailed statement that it is committed to complying with Canadian law, U.N. standards and its own code of ethics.
“ICAO is cooperating fully with the RCMP’s investigation into the individuals involved in the complaint who left the organization several years ago,” the agency said. “ICAO strongly condemns the actions of individuals that are contrary to the values of the organization.”
