In its ongoing crackdown against human smugglers and traffickers, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested two more suspects allegedly linked to last month's boat tragedy near Greece in which at least five Pakistanis lost their lives.
The FIA Islamabad Zone's Anti-Human Trafficking and Smuggling Wing made these arrests from Gujrat and Rawalpindi.
Suspect Azhar Iqbal, who was rounded up from the Islampura area of Gujrat, allegedly received millions of rupees from gullible people after promising them jobs in foreign countries. He was also involved in sending the group of people whose boat capsized near Greece on December 14.
During another raid, the FIA arrested Muhammad Afzal from the Amarpura area of Rawalpindi. The suspect is accused of issuing fake visas of European countries, UAE and Canada.
The accused had been wanted to the FIA for the last 6 yearssince registration of an FIR against him in 2019. According to preliminary investigations, the suspect had also been running a human smuggling racket from Lahore. After committing visa fraud in one city, he would move to another city.
Meanwhile, FIA immigration stationed at Karachi Airport detained two passengers arriving from abroad during an operation. The detained passengers were identified as Faisal Ehsan and Naeem Ahmed.
An FIA spokesperson stated that Faisal Ehsan attempted to travel illegally from Libya to Europe.
Initial investigations revealed that Faisal contacted agents, Nadeem and Umair, to facilitate his journey. The other detainee, Naeem Ahmed, is the brother of these agents and was already residing in Libya.
The agents first sent Faisal to Dubai on a visit visa and then arranged for his travel from Dubai to Libya. They promised to send him from Libya to Italy by sea in the next phase.
To lure Faisal, the agents showed videos of large ships supposedly used to transport people to Europe. Faisal paid a total of Rs4.6 million to these agents. The agents attempted to send Faisal and other victims from Libya to Italy by boat.
However, the boat met with an accident. The passengers were rescued by the Libyan Coast Guard and taken to jail. The agents demanded additional money for Faisal's release from prison in Libya and later extracted more money to send him back to Pakistan.
Upon Faisal's arrival at Karachi Airport, FIA Immigration took him into custody. Both detainees have been handed over to the Anti-Human Trafficking Wing for further legal action and investigation.
The FIA spokesperson further stated that an organized gang is involved in holding victims hostage in Libya.
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