Young men reveal horrifying ordeal

Say they risked their lives due to financial problems

FAISALABAD: At least 19 young men, who were arrested a few months ago by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Faisalabad for illegally travelling to Turkey via Iran, revealed that financial problems prompted them to take such a huge risk.

They disclosed that they wanted to earn handsome amounts of money abroad and help their parents and siblings back home.

The FIA nabbed 35 suspects, including travel agents, and recovered 19 young men who were being transported illegally to other countries.

The arrested suspects told investigators that they were only provided one piece of bread and a bottle of water by human smugglers for their journey. They said if they were released by authorities, they would only seek employment in Pakistan.

While speaking to Express News, FIA Additional Director Rehan Sajid Akram said the illegal migrants, hailing from different parts of Punjab, including Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin, were being taken in buses from Mianwali and Dera Ismail Khan and smuggled via Quetta to Iran and onto Turkey.

“On a tip-off, three FIA teams, led by Inspector Shahrukh Kalyar, Inspector Sufyan Dilbar and Sub Inspector Ajmal Hussain, were sent to arrest the human smugglers.”

He maintained the FIA squads stopped a bus at Kundia Chowk and recovered 19 boys named Akhtar Ali, Zaman Ali, Ehteshamul Haq, Ameer Hamza, Hasnain, Umair Hussain, Mubasshir Hussain, Afzal Ahmed, Shakeel Ahmed, Anees Ahmed, Waqas, Qaiser, Afzal Ahmed, Hamid Junaid, Ali Haider, Ali Raza, Shaharyar and Muhammad Waseem without identity cards.

“When arrested, the youngsters told the FIA investigators that travel agents Pervez Gondal, Muhammad Saif, Aslam, Naveed, Abbas, Shahbaz, Qaiser, Muhammad Khan, Imtiaz and others had allegedly taken Rs150,000 from each of them to get transported to Turkey. The remaining amount was supposed to be sent on arrival in Turkey,” he disclosed.

Akram added parents also hold the responsibility for being lured into illegally sending their children to Iran, Turkey and Italy. “During 2018, 25 young men were shot dead while trying to illegally cross the Iranian border,” he mentioned. “Sometimes, young men like these are kidnapped and released for ransom,” Akram pointed out.

“At times, FIA has recovered many such children after payment of ransom. Other times, we also recovered the ransom amount after getting the suspects arrested through help from Interpol. We are working round-the-clock to nab such gangs,” the FIA additional director asserted.

He said young men are often dragged into unethical activities after being smuggled. “However, when they are caught, many youngsters resort to weeping and narrate their horror stories,” he remarked.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 6^th, 2018.