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By Ahmed Elumami
Two bystanders were injured by gunfire as Tripoli police fought, and lost, a running gun battle . . .[restrict]late this afternoon,with suspected drug and alcohol dealers.
As around 80 law officers tried to move in on what they believed were drugs and alcohol dens in the Al-Hendi district of Gargaresh, a road was blocked with burning tyres and gunmen opened up with sustained fire.
Essam Anaas, a member of Tripoli Security Directorate told the Libya Herald that the Tripoli Deterrence Force had been ordered to clear Al-Hendi of smugglers and dealers. However the drug dealers, numbering between 50 and 60 had replied with heavy firing. It was because of this resistance, he explained, that so far nobody had yet been arrested. Indeed in the end, the police later withdrew from the area, leaving an uneasy calm. The condition of the two wounded bystanders was not clear this evening. There were no reported police casualties and it is unknown if any of the suspects were hit by police fire.
Al-Hendi is a poor area which lacks of the most basic infrastructure. It has many old buildings that could reportedly collapse on their inhabitants at anytime. It is notorious as a safe haven for criminals, in particular drugs and alcohol gangs.
Indeed Al-Hendi is widely believed to be the place where the deadly methanol-laced bokha alcohol drink was manufactured and distributed, which in 16 days this March killed over 100 people and left more than a thousand in hospital, many of them blinded for life or with permanent internal organ damage.
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