ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Wednesday launched a countrywide crackdown against human traffickers in a bid to control the flow of immigrants, specially to Europe.

On the directives of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, the FIA formed seven raiding teams which have raided human trafficking rings in Rawalpindi and other areas, while acting on actionable intelligence.

In the raids carried out so far, the FIA has arrested seven human traffickers and one proclaimed offender.

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Those arrested in the raids have been booked under the Passport Act and Emigration Ordinance. Around 89 passports were also recovered from the arrested individuals.

“There has been improvement in FIA’s performance over the last year and a half against human smugglers, but more still needs to be done,” said Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan

The interior minister also directed the director general passports, NADRA chairman and the FIA to cancel the passports, block computerised national identity cards (CNIC) and freeze the bank accounts of 300 human traffickers and their agents, who have been identified so far in the ongoing investigation.

“Human traffickers who have managed to travel outside the country, will be arrested through Interpol once their red warrants are issued,” added Nisar.

The interior minister has also directed the FIA to submit a weekly progress report on the measure taken to prevent human trafficking and operations conducted during the crackdown.

The latest development comes after Pakistan on Tuesday instructed its diplomatic missions in European capitals to demand evidence of a potential crime when host countries sought to deport illegal immigrants being held on terror charges to Pakistan.

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The move came days after Islamabad said it had suspended its agreement on the readmission of illegal immigrants with European Union countries, except Britain, because of its “blatant misuse”.

Nisar has also warned that airlines who carried deportees back to Pakistan without the interior ministry's permission or without travel documents would have to pay unspecified fines.

The 2010 agreement that Pakistan said it had suspended aimed to facilitate the return of Pakistani illegal immigrants and other nationals who had transited through Pakistan before arriving in the European Union (EU).

Earlier, Pakistan had expressed readiness to accept its citizens who illegally arrived in the EU.