LAHORE, Nov 22: The Federal Investigation Agency’s recently established passport cell police station in Gujranwala district is without a lock-up, it is learnt on Saturday.

As a result, the 57 human smugglers, who had been recently held in Gujranwala, Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin, Narowal and Sialkot, had to be shifted to the Lahore passport cell police station.

The FIA teams, which had monitored the operation against the human smugglers while staying in the Gujranwala passport cell office, had reportedly faced a great deal of difficulty in interrogating them.

The passport cell police station was established in Gujranwala last month to deal with human trafficking in the six adjacent districts.

When contacted, Lahore (passport cell) assistant director Arif Bokhari said the lock-up would be set up there next month. He added that the establishment of passport cell office in Gujranwala had helped the agency apprehend local travel agents, who were involved in sending a number of people abroad on fake documents.