The United States government has imposed financial sanctions on a Malta-based company for allegedly trafficking drugs and smuggling fuel between Libya and Malta.

Libyan national Faysal al-Wadi, the operator of Maraya and business owner of Alwefaq Ltd, has been working with a network of contacts in North Africa and southern Europe to smuggle fuel and illicit drugs from Libya to Malta, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

His associates, Musbah Mohamad M Wadi and Nourddin Milood M Musbah, have also been slapped with the sanctions.

“Faysal al-Wadi and his associates have smuggled fuel from Libya and used Libya as a transit zone to smuggle illicit drugs,” said Deputy Secretary Justin G. Muzinich. “The United States is committed to exposing illicit networks exploiting Libya’s resources for their own profit while hurting the Libyan people.”

Wadi is believed to have operated his illicit trafficking ring from the Libyan port of Zuwarah and Hurd’s Bank, just outside Malta’s territorial waters.

It is also believed that Wadi also smuggled drugs into Malta using the vessel Maraya. 

Wadi’s operations have, directly or indirectly, threatened the peace, security and stability of Libya according to the OFAC. 

Libya has been struggling with a long and bloody civil war following the fall of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

As a result of the sanctions, all property and interests in property of these persons, including the identified vessel, that comes within the United States must be blocked and reported to OFAC. 

In addition, all dealings by US persons or those within the United States that involve any property or interests in property of Wadi and his associates are prohibited.

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