ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Eight Kurdish youth who attempted to reach Europe through Libya were abducted by a human trafficking gang in Tripoli, with one survivor saying they were subject to beatings, humiliation, and threats of having their organs removed, while the criminals demanded a ransom from their families.

Bakr Ali, head of the Association of Returned Refugees, on Thursday told The New Region that the gang specializes in abducting people of different nationalities and holding them for a ransom, where in one case they demanded $5,000 and threatened to remove the organs of the detained migrant should it not be paid.

“In July of last year, 158 young Kurds were arrested together. For a long time we were subjected to humiliation, beatings, and threats of having our kidneys removed,” a young man who escaped the gang after being held in captivity for seven months told The New Region.

He was one of the eight latest abductees, while another one who remains in their custody is wounded with the gang demanding $100,000 for his release.

The families of those abducted have filed legal complaints in the Kurdistan Region, stressing that their children were lured by the traffickers.

This is not the first time news of Kurdish youth going missing in Libya has surfaced, while many others who have traveled there in a bid to enter Europe illegally are frequently repatriated to the Kurdistan Region.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in July announced that they were notified of at least 17 Kurdish migrants having gone missing in Libya, adding that Erbil was not aware of whether they were arrested or abducted.

Many migrants trekking the perilous journey to Europe use the Libyan waterways to reach Italy through smuggling routes, often using boats that are not seaworthy and are prone to capsizing in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Iraqi government has routinely warned of the dangers of illegal migration, with Libya having gained popularity in recent years as a major transit hub on the journey to Europe.

Over 700,000 migrants were registered in Libya last year, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

In November, the IOM said more than 1,000 people had died trying to reach Europe through the Central Mediterranean migration route in 2025.