GWADAR: Security forces freed on Wednesday 22 passengers who had been kidnapped from a coach going to Gwadar from Karachi.

According to official sources, armed men on two vehicles intercepted the coach carrying around 25 people in Nalaint area of Pasni on the Coastal Highway and took away 22 passengers after identifying them.

The kidnap victims, belonging to different areas of the country, were going to Iran for their onward journey to Europe.

Armed men intercepted a coach carrying around 25 people in Nalaint area of Pasni and took away 22 passengers after checking their identity

Personnel of Army, Frontier Corps and Levies launched a joint search operation on the outskirts of Pasni and found the kidnap victims during a raid on a hotel.

One suspected kidnapper was arrested.

Brigadier Shehzad Iftikhar, who looks after security affairs in Gwadar district, said the incident was the outcome of a dispute between two gangs of human smugglers, adding that one of the gangs had kidnapped the ‘clients’ of the other.

One of the key suspects had been detained and efforts for arrest of others were under way, he said.

Commissioner of Makran Division Bashir Bangulzai said the kidnapped people were would-be illegal immigrants. They were going to Gwadar and intended to illegally enter Iran.

Human smugglers often take people to Turkey via Iran, from where they are transported to Greece and other European countries.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2015