Human traffickers lure unemployed youths

With the lockdown imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic aggravating unemployment and poverty, frustrated youths keep trying to go abroad illegally after paying human smugglers hefty amounts from their family savings.

In the quest for a better future, people from different cities of Punjab are caught trying to enter Europe illegally via Iran and Turkey despite the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) operations against the agents.

The human traffickers fleece the aspiring migrants and take most of them to Iran via Quetta, from where they are sent to Turkey in buses, oil tankers and trucks. Then, as soon as they get an opportunity, they cross the Greek border. During the journey, dozens of people are arrested by border security forces and some are even shot dead.

According to sources, about 2,500 Pakistani nationals are in jails in Turkey, Greece and Iran as they were arrested after illegally entering the countries.

Those deported after being caught have returned with frightening stories about their ordeal. One of them said the traffickers had taken them to Iran under the guise of pilgrimage. Then, they were transported to Turkey at night in trucks and containers.

The smugglers took about Rs400,000 for taking the youths to Iran and Turkey and then about Rs1 million for Greece. According to Wajid Khan, who was deported, he was tortured in a camp before he escaped. Local and foreign agents took $10,000 from his family through illegal money transfer.

The lockdown also caused many Pakistanis to travel from Turkey to Greece and Poland where they were caught and tortured by security forces. The deported people complained that the Pakistani embassy officials in the countries did not help them. According to FIA immigration records, more than 200 Pakistanis have been deported from Greece, Italy and Turkey to Islamabad, Lahore and Sialkot in the past three months.

When contacted, FIA Anti-Human Trafficking Additional Director Athar Waheed said a large-scale operation against human traffickers was underway and more than a dozen traffickers and their agents had been arrested. Some cases had been delayed due to the lockdown, but now they were being pursued vigorously, the official added.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 13^th, 2020.