Court sends human trafficker to jail for 10 years

Convict had received Rs2.5m from a man promising him to send his son to Saudi Arabia

CHAK JHUMRA:

Special Judge Raja Pervez Akhtar sentenced Muhammad Yaqoob to 10 years of imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs300,000 on him after the latter had been found guilty of human trafficking.

Two other accused in the same case, Mohammad Imran and Mohammad Yousuf, were acquitted on the basis of benefit of doubt.

Muhammad Yaqoob had received Rs2.5 million in 2014 from a man promising him to send his son to Saudi Arabia for employment. However, neither did he send him to Saudi Arabia nor he returned the money to the victim.

After the victim had a case registered with the FIA against Yaqoob, the case of the accused was sent to the court.

During an FIA crackdown on human traffickers in Punjab in April 2021, the federal agency had arrested four suspects and seized 124 passports.

The crackdown was a part of the FIA Passport Cell’s stepping up of its operations across Punjab against human traffickers and travel agents involved in the business of fake visas on the pretext of arranging jobs and consultation.

The federal agency’s passport cell had then raided a plaza in Gulberg area, arresting four suspects and seizing 124 passports, some files, two laptops and five computers from them.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2022.