The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Monday arrested 19 prospective illegal immigrants trying to cross the border into Iran illegally, DawnNewsTV reported.

The men were hiding in the luggage compartment inside a passenger bus, said Assistant Director FIA Jawad Khan.

The FIA officials intercepted the passenger bus at Mian Ghundi and apprehended the illegal immigrants, Khan said.

All the 19 suspects belong to Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin areas of Punjab, the FIA official confirmed.

The arrested men were shifted to FIA's regional office for interrogation. Moreover, efforts were being made to arrest Jawad Khan Sai, the alleged human trafficker reportedly responsible for this crime.

Iran has handed over 13,626 illegal immigrants to Pakistani authorities at Pak-Iran border Taftan from January to September 2018. However, the FIA was able to arrest only 170 suspects trying to enter into Iran illegally.

"So far we have arrested six human traffickers and 11 facilitators in Balochistan," Jawad Khan told DawnNewsTV.

Every year, thousands of poverty-stricken Pakistanis make efforts to sneak into Iran on their way to Turkey and Greece. Very few of these people reach Greece and most of them are caught while in Iran and Turkey.