KARACHI, July 14: A suspected human trafficker, an alleged accomplice of whom had been arrested in the United States, was remanded to the Federal Investigation Agency, for interrogation and investigation into a human smuggling racket.
The 52-year-old suspect, Malik Bashiruddin, who was arrested in Lahore on June 25, was brought to Karachi on July 9, by the FIA’s Passport Circle, where as many as 12 case had been already registered against him.
The Passport Circle arrested him in an FIR (44/2002) and produced him before the Federal Anti-corruption Judge, Khawaja Muneer Ahmed, who remanded Malik Bashir, owner of the Lahore-based Dream Land Travel Agency, to the FIA custody, till July 19.
According to deputy director of the Passport Circle, Mohammed Malik, the suspect Bashir and his family was allegedly involved in human trafficking to the US and some European countries.
During preliminary interrogation, the suspect told the FIA investigators that initially he got involved in sending people to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Later, he stated, he started sending people abroad on the basis of forged passports and documents. He also claimed that the passport office at Lahore used to issue such passports illegally on payment of 15 to 20 thousands rupees. He disclosed that one Akram was working for him as sub-agent in Lahore.
The officials said that the suspect was also involved in sending several people to Canada and others countries on forged and fake Canadian landing permits.
They said the suspect revealed to have smuggled several people on fake landing permits to different countries where they sought political asylums.
The officials quoted the suspect as saying that he sent people abroad through Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad airports. His alleged agent in Karachi was one Chaudhry Niaz Baig, they said.
The suspect also told the FIA investigators that immediately after his arrest in Lahore, his agent Shaukat Pervaiz shifted all the relevant record to some unidentified place and he himself escaped.
The investigations also revealed that some officials of an airline, in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, used to facilitate him illegally, with regard to the inadmissible passengers and manipulation of record.
According to the FIA officials, during the course of the investigation the suspect disclosed the names of as many as 40 people, whom he had sent abroad on forged documents.
The officials said the suspect, who was a cardiac, diabetic and hypertension patient, was being interrogated with extraordinary care.
During the investigation the suspect admitted he had arranged the travelling of a job-seeker, to the UK, on forged documents, which were arranged by another suspect, Javaid Hamdani, who was in the custody of the US authorities in connection with his involvement in human smuggling.
