Gujranwala still reeling from boat tragedy

Seven districts of the division became epicentre of human trafficking in 2023

GUJRANWALA:

Gujranwala had hit the headlines this year, but, unfortunately, for all the wrong reasons. The most heartbreaking incident this year was the Libya-Greece boat accident in which more than 300 Pakistanis died, and more than 100 of them were from Gujranwala alone.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Gujranwala took action against human traffickers, arresting 814 people, including 93 of those who were suspects in the Greek boat tragedy.

An amount of more than 140 million in Pakistani currency and millions in foreign currency linked to the illicit activities was recovered.

Seven districts of Gujranwala -- Gujranwala, Gujrat, Sialkot, Narowal, Mandi Bahauddin, Hafizabad and Wazirabad -- became the epicentre of human trafficking in 2023.

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The human traffickers first used the border routes of Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey for their illicit trade. From those countries, they made their victims traverse snow-bound mountains to get to Turkey and onwards to Greece. Then, when the government of Pakistan started conducting stricter checks on the borders, the agents came up with a new method and found a way to get to Italy and Greece.

Youths aspiring to migrate to Europe were enticed by traffickers who collected between Rs2.5 to Rs3 million per person. The traffickers told the youths that they would take them first to Libya by air from where they would travel to Italy by a boat.

The youths were made to embark on their journey to Italy in a boat that had been filled with the number of people twice its capacity.

The Director of the FIA, Sajid Karim Chaudhry, told The Express Tribune that the biggest tragedy in Gujranwala in 2023 was the Libya-Greece boat accident.

The human traffickers had taken hundreds of millions of rupees from the youth. The tragic accident happened on June 14, and except 12 people, all the Pakistanis who had been in the lower part of the boat went missing.

The FIA director said that a total of 814 accused had been arrested, out of whom 533 were allegedly involved in visa fraud and human trafficking. Six accused allegedly involved in electricity and gas theft were also arrested.

The director said that among those arrested, 93 were allegedly involved in clandestinely advertising about illegal migration abroad and three were “the most wanted human traffickers”.

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During this year, 858 cases were registered against human traffickers. Over 800 cases were investigated and challans were submitted while 56 human traffickers were sentenced. Ninety accused of the Libya-Greece boat accident were still in prison.

He said that strict checking had been started at the Sialkot airport to prevent incidents like the Greek boat tragedy from happening again. Special training was given to the immigration officials regarding passenger profiling. Checking of passengers' baggage was also ensured in collaboration with other law-enforcement agencies.

This year, a special crackdown was launched against the elements involved in the business of illegal currency exchange and Hawala-Hundi. Gujranwala conducted 34 raids against elements involved in illegal currency exchange in which 34 cases were registered and 80 accused arrested. During the raids, 32,191 US dollars and other foreign currency worth more than Rs40 million million was recovered.

The director said that the accused had been involved in currency exchange without licences.

Properties worth more than Rs50 million were retrieved in various inquiries conducted by the Evacuee Trust Property Board.

During the current year, FIA took action at Sialkot Airport and registered cases against human smugglers by offloading 43 passengers who had been allegedly travelling on fake documents.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 23^rd, 2023.