Mauritanian authorities have handed over Moamer Kadhafi's ex-spy chief to Libya nearly five months after he was arrested for entering the country illegally, state television reported Wednesday.
"Mauritanian authorities hand over ex-Libyan spy chief Abdullah al-Senussi to Libya," read a newsflash on the screen written in Arabic.
An official source speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed that Al-Senussi had "effectively left Mauritania".
A delegation from Libya, including the defence minister and army chief of staff, were in Nouakchott on Tuesday for a visit which several official sources said was in connection with the extradition.
Senussi, a brother-in-law and feared former right-hand man of the slain Libyan dictator, was arrested in Mauritania in March and charged two months later for illegal entry and use of forged documents.
Libya has since pushed hard for the extradition of the man who is also wanted by France and the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
In July, Libya's new authorities dispatched Prime Minister Abdel Rahim al-Kib to Nouakchott to press for the handover, but Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz said Senussi had to face justice for illegally entering the country.
On June 27, 2011, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Senussi saying he was an "indirect perpetrator of crimes against humanity, of murder and persecution based on political grounds" in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.