RAWALPINDI: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested three people on Tuesday for their alleged involvement in human smuggling under the guise of Haj tour operators.

A senior FIA official said the arrests were made during a raid at a guest house in F-7 out of which the gang of human smugglers was operating. He said three people were arrested including a Dr Sajid, Shahid Iqbal and Ibrar Ahmed and that 30 passports were recovered from them.

The official said the group was presenting as Haj tour operators and was involved in fraud in Haj quotas.

The FIA has said that one of the arrested men is a driver at the Saudi embassy and the other is a government official.

The arrested men were moved to the Anti-Human Smuggling Cell for further investigations.

The federal government has been taking extensive measures to prevent pilgrims from private Haj scheme frauds.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2016