Tripoli government says UAE soldier arrested for spying

November 12, 2015 8:00 AM

"He is still under investigation by the public prosecution after all information from his laptop and documents has shown that Mubarak was spying for a foreign country," he said.

A soldier from the United Arab Emirates armed with a machine gun watches over Yemeni territory while riding a Chinook helicopter en route to a Saudi-led coalition air base in the kingdom September 17, 2015. Armed with high-tech Western weaponry, Gulf Arab soldiers are fighting with newfound determination against what they see as the expanding influence of Iran, their non-Arab and Shi'ite Muslim arch-foe, in a war that has ravaged Yemen for six months. The oil-producing province of Marib has become a key battlefield between Iranian-allied Houthi militia and a coalition of Yemenis and Emirati, Saudi and Bahraini troops. Marib forms a gateway to the Yemeni capital Sanaa 120 km (75 miles) to the west, which the Houthis seized last year. REUTERS/Abdelhadi al-Ramahi - RTS1NIC

Libya's self-declared government in Tripoli has arrested a United Arab Emirates soldier and placed him under investigation for spying after finding evidence among his documents and on his computer, authorities said on Wednesday.

The soldier, identified as Yousef Saqer Ahmad Mubarak, was arrested in Tripoli after intelligence was uncovered about his activities, the head of the attorney general's investigation department, Sadiq Al-Sour, told Reuters.

Libya is caught in a conflict between two rival governments and their armed factions, an internationally recognized one in the east and an unofficial one in Tripoli. Each accuses neighbouring countries of backing the other.

Tripoli's government has accused the United Arab Emirates and Egypt of supporting its rivals. The United States said last year the UAE and Egypt staged air strikes against Libyan Islamists, but the UAE dismissed those allegations.

The arrest comes after Tripoli officials complained of U.N. bias in peace negotiations with their rivals, following reports the U.N. envoy for Libya would be leaving for a job with a United Arab Emirates diplomatic academy.