GUJRANWALA, Dec 13: The interior ministry has provided a list of more than 113 human smugglers to the FIA’s Gujranwala chapter and directed the agency to arrest them at the earliest, deputy director Naeem Akram Bharooba told Dawn here on Tuesday.

He said the number of people wanted for human smuggling had touched 235. They had illegally taken thousands of people to Europe through the Turkey border and many of the immigrants had been arrested by the foreign security personnel.

He said the government had provided vehicles and arms to the FIA and a helpline — 112 — had been established. He asked the people to inform the agency about the activities of human smugglers.

In response to a question, Mr Bharooba said these smugglers were rich and influential so it was not easy to arrest them.

He said the Gujranwala Range had been divided in four parts and special teams, headed by sub-inspectors Shahid Habib, Buland Akhtar, Shujaat Goraya and Ajmal Sandhu, had been formed to tackle the issue.

The FIA had launched a special campaign against the human traffickers and already captured five of them — Muhammad Shafi, Muhammad Irfan, Ahmad Shah, Hafiz Shahid and Safdar Mochi, he claimed.

GAS DEALERS: The district administration has banned the filling of gas cylinders in residential areas and directed the shopkeepers to get no objection certificate (NOC) following their registration by the oil and gas regulatory authority (Ogra).