FIA sources say the trafficker lured men to travelling to Europe. PHOTO: FILE
A ring leader of the international human trafficking racket, charged for death-by-suffocation of 21 men, has been arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Sunday, The Express Tribune has learnt.
Agha Inayat was wanted by the agency in several cases, particularly concerning the one in which 21 Pakistanis from less privileged backgrounds were suffocated to death on July 20, 2011 while being trafficked to a location in Europe.
According to reports, the fugitive lured people belonging to Gujrat, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Mandi Bahauddin and adjoining areas to relocate to foreign countries for better economic opportunities, in return for hefty cash to cover his crime. The team of traffickers under Inayat used land and sea routes via Iran-Turkey-Greece for travelling, said an FIA source. In one such routine trafficking incident, 21 men who were packed in a small container, died of suffocation when the traffickers parked their vehicle in a deserted location for a long duration in order to escape arrest by the Turkish Border Security Force, who maintained strict vigilance.
Out of the 21 suffocated men, six belonged to Daska, two to Lala Musa, nine to Karachi and four to Wazirabad. Furthermore, two sub-agents accused of human trafficking - Sadiq Shah from Sialkot and Muhammad Haneef from Glotiyaan-Daska were already arrested by the FIA on August 16, 2011.
Deputy Director of FIA Gujranwala Circle Chaudhry Nasir Jamil Khan Gujjar, while talking to The Express Tribune, confirmed the arrest of the high-profile human trafficker. Furthermore, FIA Deputy Director disclosed that the agency had managed to arrest a key member of the international network of human traffickers wanted in dozens of cases registered at Anti Human Trafficking Circle’s Police Stations in Lahore, Gujranwala, Karachi, Quetta and Islamabad, besides the container case in which 21 Pakistanis suffocated to death.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 4th, 2013.
COMMENTS (3)
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Why blame the traffickers. Where there is a demand there is going to be supply too.
If someone is burdened with the blood of another, let that killer be a fugitive until death; let no one offer assistance.
Nothing less than hanging, if proven guilty.