GUJRAT: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested five human traffickers, including an agent wanted in the Red Book of the agency.

An official of Gujrat FIA police station confirmed the arrest of Seth Masood wanted in the Libyan boat tragedy. A resident of Gujrat city, the accused has been a goldsmith in the past.

The official said suspects Sajawal Adnan, Bilal Rasheed, Gulraiz Qaiser and Mudassar were arrested in other cases of human trafficking lodged with the Gujrat FIA circle. They were involved in receiving huge amounts from their clients to send them to different European countries through illegal means.

Sources said still a number of human traffickers were operating from Libya and other countries where they had developed their safe houses to attract clients. They said the racket of human traffickers based in Libya had actually been connected to the gold business and most of them belonged to Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin districts.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2023