September 20, 2006	Wednesday	Sha'aban 26, 1427

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GUJRANWALA, Sep 19: Over 115 people belonging to Gujranwala region arrested on charge of entering Iran illegally were brought here by FIA from Quetta on Tuesday. They were on way to Greece via Iran and Turkey. The FIA brought them by train.

They would now be interrogated to know the whereabouts of human smugglers who had sent them abroad. The number of deportees sent to jails in the Gujranwala this year has risen to 1,481.

Jail authorities are meanwhile finding it difficult to accommodate more and more deportees because of lack of room inside jails which are overburdened.

That’s why deportees from Gujranwala district are detained at the Central jail here while those belonging to Sialkot and Gujrat are sent to district prisons there.

It may be added that nearly 80 per cent of the Pakistanis deported from different countries this year belong to Gujranwala region comprising the districts of Sialkot, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin, Narowal and Hafizabad.

A majority of the human smugglers active in Pakistan also hail from this area. A number of top traffickers from the region are now based in Iran, Turkey and Greece, say FIA officials.

WANTED MEN: The regional police have arrested 6,233 proclaimed offenders, 6,450 court fugitives besides smashing 13 gangs of dacoits and robbers in a campaign during the current year.

According to additional IG and regional police officer Malik Muhammad Iqbal, the arrests yielded loot worth Rs 220 million and a huge quantity of illicit arms.