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An armed group has based themselves in the seaside town of Sabratha, which is 45miles west of the capital Tripoli, and have been touted as a reason for a 50 per cent drop in arrivals in Italy compared to a year earlier. Sources speaking to Reuters claim the new force is preventing migrants from leaving and is often locking them up. The group is reportedly running a detention centre for migrants while seeking legitimacy and financial support from Tripoli.

GETTY A former mafia boss reportedly launched an armed force stopping migrants

European states have tried to partner with a UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) to stem migrant flows in the area. Italy has been trying to bolster the GNA's ability to stop people smuggling with cash, training and by sending a ship to help repair Tripoli's coastguard and navy vessels. A civil society organiser from the city said: “The group in Sabratha works on the ground, the beach, to prevent the migrants leaving on boats towards Italy.”

This year more than 58,000 migrants have arrived in Italy and 1,569 have died Thu, June 29, 2017 An estimated 230,000 refugees and migrants will arrive in Italy this year as numbers of refugees and migrants attempting the dangerous central mediterranean crossing from Libya to Italy continues to rise since the same time last year Play slideshow Getty Images 1 of 11 Refugees and migrants wait in a small rubber boat to be rescued off Lampedusa, Italy

A second source said the group is made up of several hundred "civilians, policemen, army figures”. Some 600,000 migrants have reached Italy by sea from North Africa since 2014 with more than 12,000 having died attempting the trip. Flavio Di Giacomo, an International Organisation for Migration spokesman in Rome claimed some migrants were also turned back before reaching Sabratha.

He added: "They said that it was very difficult to depart from Sabratha. There are people stopping the boats before they set out, and if they get out to sea they're immediately sent back.” Since 2015, Sabratha has been the most frequently used departure point. Italy wants to replicate the sort of deal with Libya that the EU struck with Turkey to shut down the migrant route through Greece and the Balkans.

GETTY Some migrants were also turned back before reaching Sabratha sources revealed

A national election will take place early next year and the government in Rome is under pressure to show it can stop or slow migration. In the past, with no central authority to constrain them, smugglers have adapted and routes have shifted, as already is happening. A senior diplomat in Libya said the power of the smuggling networks would not be broken until there was a "legitimate source of order" in the country.

GETTY Some 600,000 migrants have reached Italy by sea from North Africa since 2014