TRIPOLI, Libya (AFP) — A Libyan airline’s commercial director has been arrested in an investigation into flying illegal migrants who intended to enter the United States to Nicaragua, the attorney general’s office said.

The case concerns flights organised by private airline Ghadames Air, the office said in a statement published overnight Sunday-Monday.

It said the airline flew “hundreds of people wishing to enter the territory of the United States through the territory of the Republic of Nicaragua, in violation of applicable immigration rules”.

Authorities ordered “the imprisonment of the commercial director of Ghadames Airlines for committing activity harmful to the country’s interests”, it said.

The airline flew “hundreds of people from east Asian countries without taking into account the obligations of the air carrier” and migration legislation, as well as international treaties ratified by Libya, the statement said.

It added that violation of “the protocol to combat the smuggling of migrants by land, sea and air” was of particular concern.

An investigation published in late May by Le Monde newspaper said several Ghadames Air charter flights took hundreds of Asian migrants to the Nicaraguan capital Managua from Benghazi and Tripoli.

Like most Libyan airlines, Ghadames Air is banned from entering European Union airspace for security reasons.

Libya has been wracked by division and unrest since the 2011 NATO-backed overthrow of former dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

The North African country is divided between two rival administrations, and has become a hub for tens of thousands of migrants seeking to reach Europe by sea.

According to the International Organization for Migration, there are more than 700,000 migrants in Libya, largely Nigerians and Egyptians.

However, on July 10, Imad Trabelsi, interior minister in the Tripoli-based administration, said “there are approximately 2.5 million foreigners in Libya”.

He added that “70 to 80 per cent of them entered the country illegally”.