Italy warrant out for alleged arms

(supersedes previous)(ANSA) - Ascoli Piceno, August 30 - A preliminary investigations judge in the Marche city of Ascoli Piceno on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for an Italian man and two Libyan nationals on suspicion of international arms trafficking. Ascoli Piceno native Franco Giorgi, 73, has been prevented from leaving Libya since March 2015. His two Libyan alleged accomplices are being sought. Earlier on Tuesday, Carabinieri police arrested an Egyptian national in the Abruzzo town of Ancarano as part of the same investigation. He is accused of being an international arms and weapons of war broker. Sources say the Ascoli Piceno native is being held in Libya by an unspecified organization for accepting a monetary advance on a shipment of weapons that failed to materialize. The investigation is being carried out in cooperation with British and Slovenian police, sources said.
    A UN Security Council report said Giorgi is "the main Italian mediator" for an arms dealing network headed by Libyan national Abdurraouf Eshati, who is serving six years in Britain for trafficking 25.5 million euros' worth of arms to the Zintan Brigades, which played a large part in the 2011 overthrow of former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
    Giorgi was arrested in 2002 on suspicion of trafficking war weapons to the former Yugoslavia, but the inquiry was shelved and he was released. He was also questioned by a parliamentary committee investigating the murder of Italian TV journalist Ilaria Alpi and cameraman Miran Hrovatin in Somalia in 1994.