Pair ‘tried to sell China drones in Libya’

Canadian police charge former UN workers for violating sanctions related to civil war

Two former United Nations employees in Montreal have been charged with taking part in a conspiracy to sell Chinese-made drones and other military equipment in Libya, Canadian police say.

Police spokesman Sergeant Charles Poirier said the alleged offences occurred between 2018 and 2021, when the two men were working at the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a UN agency based in Montreal.

Police identified the two men as Fathi Ben Ahmed Mhaouek, 61, and Mahmud Mohamed Elsuwaye Sayeh, 37. Poirer said they violated UN sanctions related to the Libyan civil war. The sanctions have the force of law in Canada by way of federal regulation.

“What we found is that through some shell companies, they attempted to sell this Chinese military equipment to Libya, which is a direct violation of the regulation,” Poirier said, adding that the military equipment included large drones that can carry multiple missiles.

Poirier said the regulation prohibited anyone in Canada from supplying military equipment to any of the factions that were fighting in the Libyan civil war, or helping to finance those groups. The alleged conspiracy, he said, would have benefited one of the two main factions in the conflict, which ended in 2020.

“The second part of this scheme was to export Libyan oil to China,” Poirier said. “So at the time, the oilfields were under the control of General Khalifa Hifter and the plan was to sell millions of drums of crude oil to China without anyone knowing about it.”

Hifter’s self-styled Libyan National Army fought against Libya’s UN-backed government and held much of the country’s east during the civil war. He continues to be a powerful figure in that region.

Poirier said Mhaouek, a Canadian citizen, was arrested at his home in Montreal, Quebec, and was scheduled to appear in a Montreal court this week.

Mhaouek’s alleged accomplice remains on the run. An Interpol red notice and a Canadawide warrant have been issued for Sayeh’s arrest.

Poirier said investigators had no indication that military equipment or crude oil ever reached their alleged final destinations, but he said if they had, the two co-conspirators stood to gain several million dollars in commissions.

“The theory behind the motivation is primarily financial,” he said. However, it would have also benefited China by allowing it to covertly support Hifter’s faction and by giving the country prime access to Libyan oil.

Both men had diplomatic immunity because of their work with the UN. Their immunity had to be waived by the ICAO before the two men could be charged.