[JURIST] Saadi Gaddafi, son of deceased former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi [BBC obituary; JURIST news archive], was implicated Wednesday in a plot to flee to Mexico by the Secretary of the Interior [official website, in Spanish]. The announcement [press release, in Spanish] described the disruption by Mexican intelligence officials of an international criminal gang that had created false documents, purchased property and made other arrangements in preparations for Gaddafi’s arrival. A government spokesperson said that the action, called Operation Houseguest, was, “to prevent the realization of a plan that would permit the illegal entry of Saadi Gaddafi, son of former Libyan ruler Mummar Gaddafi, as well as his family into the national territory, this from intelligence obtained on September 6.” The people arrested included citizens of Mexico, Canada and Denmark.

The Libyan government and international law enforcement agencies have been in pursuit of the Gaddafi family [BBC backgrounder]. Saadi’s brother Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was captured [JURIST report] in November in Libya, and the International Criminal Court [official website] Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official profile] said the ICC would allow Libya to conduct Seif al-Islam’s trial. This report comes as the Libya conflict [JURIST backgrounder] appears to be drawing to a close after the interim Libyan prime minister declared [JURIST report] the country’s liberation following Gaddafi’s death.