Six Copts Who Were Kidnapped In Libya Are Reportedly Being Sought By Egypt.

Six Egyptian Coptic Christians were abducted in conflict-torn Libya, according to the government of Egypt, which stated Friday that it was “working around the clock” to achieve their release.

The foreign ministry released a statement saying, “The six Egyptians are arrested at an illegal immigration center in western Libya.”

They had crossed the border from Egypt to Libya with “work licences mandating their presence solely in the east of Libya,” the statement said.

The ministry said that it was “working around the clock” to achieve their release and that it was in touch with Egyptian diplomats stationed in Tripoli who are pursuing the issue with Libyan authorities.

The six Copts were kidnapped “around a week ago,” according to a tweet from lawmaker Mostafa Bakry, and were being held for ransom by “criminal gangs.”

The six were just searching “for labor chances in construction,” according to Bakry, when they were abducted.

The guys had reportedly been kidnapped, according to media affiliated with the Coptic Orthodox Church, while traveling between Benghazi and Tripoli.

According to them, the kidnappers wanted a $30,000 ransom for each of the six guys.

The foreign ministry of Egypt said that as part of its attempts to secure the release of the kidnapped people, it had had many meetings with their relatives.

Since longtime tyrant Moamer Kadhafi was overthrown and murdered in an uprising supported by NATO in 2011, Libya has been engulfed in instability, with competing governments and several militias fighting for control of the oil-rich nation.

Since March of last year, a government in eastern Libya supported by military commander Khalifa Haftar has contested Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah’s UN-recognized administration in western Tripoli, claiming it has outlived its authority.

Some nations, including Egypt, support Haftar, while Turkey supports Dbeibah.