FIA arrests five Pakistani emigrants working in Israel

Suspects hailing from Mirpurkhas paid Israeli agents to gain passage to Tel Aviv, says FIA spokesperson

ISLAMABAD:

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested five Pakistanis who were working in Israel allegedly in violation of different sections under the Passport Act 1974 and Emigration Ordinance 1979.

The FIA’s Mirpurkhas Crime Cell arrested the individuals and registered five cases against eight suspects, all of whom were allegedly working in Israel as helpers or car washers, reported Express News on Wednesday.

According to an FIA spokesperson, the suspects were based in Tel Aviv for around four to seven years and had each paid Israeli agents around 0.3 to 0.4 million rupees to gain entry into the country.

The arrested suspects were identified as Noman, Kamil, Kamran, Zeeshan and Anwar. They belong to Mirpurkhas and had entered Israel through Jordan airport on a Schengen visas, traveling through Turkey, Kenya and Sri Lanka.

Read FIA acts against agents in Greece boat tragedy

The spokesperson further said that the suspects had continued to send money to family members in Pakistan via Western Union and would also travel to Karachi from Jordan via Dubai.

The cases against them were registered under various sections of the Passport Act 1974 and Emigration Ordinance 1979, which pertain to the regulation of arrivals and departures from Pakistan and the welfare of emigrants.

Further investigation is underway to arrest the other three suspects, added the spokesperson.

After the horrifying deaths of scores of Pakistani immigrants in the Greek boat tragedy last month, the federal government and the interior ministry ordered a large-scale crackdown against individuals engaged in human trafficking besides calling into question existing border regulation mechanisms and seeking to implement more stringent ones.