ISLAMABAD:
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) continued its swoop against human smugglers on Sunday as it rounded up two more suspects allegedly responsible for last week’s Greece boat tragedy.
The FIA Anti-Human Trafficking Cell in Gujranwala arrested the suspects, identified as Muhammad Aslam and Saeed Ahmed, who are part of an international human smuggling racket.
According to officials, Muhammad Aslam is directly linked to the Greece boat incident. He had allegedly extorted a total of Rs8.5 million from the victims for sending them to Europe through illegal means.
The suspect, along with other gang members, initially facilitated the victims’ travel to Libya. Later, he attempted to send them to Greece via boat, during which the tragic accident occurred, leaving several victims missing. They said the FIA used sophisticated methods to trace and arrest Aslam in Gujranwala.
In another operation, another human smuggler was arrested in Gujrat. This suspect was involved in creating fake travel documents and charged hefty amounts for these fraudulent services.
The suspects are currently under investigation, and raids are ongoing to capture other members of the gang, the officials added.
FIA Gujranwala Zone Director Abdul Qadir Qamar said on the directives of FIA Director General Ahmed Ishaq Jehangir a crackdown has been intensified against human smugglers.
Special raid teams have been formed, and all resources are being utilized to bring the culprits to justice. No one will be allowed to endanger innocent lives, and solid evidence will be used to ensure strict punishment for the accused, he said.
On December 14, foreign media reported that a wooden boat carrying migrants capsized off the island of Gavdos in southern Greece, killing at least five Pakistanis.
In a separate incident, a Malta-flagged cargo vessel rescued 47 migrants from a boat sailing about 40 nautical miles off Gavdos, while a tanker rescued another 88 migrants off the tiny island in Greece’s south.
After the incident, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi to submit an investigation report on the incident, directing him to identify and round up the traffickers and ensure that they get strict punishment for their heinous crimes.
PM Shehbaz urged that concrete measures be taken to prevent such incidents in the future.
“Human trafficking is a tragic crime that claims many lives and causes numerous families to suffer every year. Human traffickers are a cruel mafia who exploit the poor by deceiving them with false and ambitious dreams,” he said in a press statement issued by the PM House.
While chairing a meeting in Islamabad on December 20, Shehbaz also directed strict action against the FIA officials involved in facilitating human smugglers.
