The European Union said Monday that the second phase of the training of Libyan coastguards had started as part of Operation Sophia that aims to bring down the human traffickers off Libya’s coasts.

A Libyan coastguard vessel was reportedly shot at from the shore by people-smugglers as it intercepted 700 migrants off Sabratha.

The Libyan camps where traffickers hold refugees resemble concentration camps, German diplomats have said.

The EU could soon step up training and equipping Libya’s coast guard to crack down on refugee smuggling in the north African nation’s waters, according to an EU proposal seen by AFP on Saturday.

At least 100 migrants are feared dead after their boat sank off the coast of Libya. The Italian coastguard, which is conducting a search, said eight bodies had been recovered from the water, and four people had been rescued, wrote Metro news.

A big number of illegal migrants were transferred to the shelter centers of the Tripoli-based Illegal Immigration Fight Center (IIFC) after being busted in Gargaresh district in the capital, the Special Deterrent Force (SDF) declared on Sunday.

The Human Rights Solidarity (HRS) organization has blamed the UN-proposed Presidential Council (PC) for the abductions that are happening in Tripoli, saying the PC’s reluctance to have a firm stance on the issue has made it grow bigger.

Western Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) is involved in fuel smuggling amid the current hardships in Libya, said the Chairman of the National Oil Corporation (NOC) Mustafa Sanallah on Sunday.

Human traffickers and smugglers operating in Libya are making major contributions to the Libyan economy that is estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of Libyan dinars, said the EU.

Over the last few years, the expanse of Mediterranean Sea stretching between Libya and Italy has become an increasingly dangerous highway used by economic migrants and refugees pursuing a desperate dream of a better and richer—or just safer—future in Europe.