RAWALPINDI: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Anti-Human Trafficking Circle Rawalpindi Sunday registered five cases so far in connection with the Greece boat accident and arrested six traffickers.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Islamabad zone intensified the operations against the human traffickers involved in the Greek boat accident and stated that six accused were arrested from Kalar Syedan, Jhang and Peshawar. They were identified as Tanveer Ahmed, Muhammad Yusuf, Junaid Mehmood, Muhammad Islam, Haider Ali and Duran Khan.
The FIA stated that the human traffickers extorted millions from the victims deceiving them that they were being sent to Europe. Various raiding teams have been formed under the supervision of Deputy Director Rana Shahid Habib which are carrying out intelligence-based operations in various areas. The raiding teams are in constant contact with the families of the victims to arrest the accused.
All resources will be used to arrest the accused and the arrested will be brought to justice and be punished strictly soon.
On the other hand, FIA Composite Circle Faisalabad has arrested most wanted human smuggler Tahir Nadeem. Out of over 30 cases registered against Nadeem, 14 were registered in the Faisalabad Circle. The suspect had extorted millions of rupees from people in return for sending them illegally to countries like Canada, Japan and those in Europe for jobs.
The officials informed that as many as 16 cases of fraud were also registered against Nadeem at various police stations of Faisalabad. The FIA team also recovered 25 Pakistani passports, fake visas, cheque books and fake bank stamps.
The officials said raids were being conducted to arrest his accomplices.
The FIA has spurned its effort to net the human traffickers across the country after June 13 migrant boat tragedy which capsized and sank in open seas off Greece.
At least 350 Pakistanis were on an overloaded boat. So far, 81 have been confirmed dead, while 104 were rescued out of whom only 12 were Pakistanis.
The incident prompted outrage, a period of national mourning and a government move to crack down on human smugglers.
Chairing a meeting in Islamabad regarding human smuggling and the Greece boat tragedy a few days ago, the premier directed the interior minister to supervise the investigation process and ordered that those responsible for human trafficking be brought to justice at the earliest.