GUJRAT: The anti-human trafficking cell of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) claims to have arrested a suspect allegedly involved in human trafficking, as well as kidnapping of illegal immigrants for ransom in Iran.

The suspect, Usman Siddique, has been arrested from Sambrial tehsil of Sialkot as he was wanted in three different cases lodged against him with FIA’s Gujranwala circle.

A senior FIA official says that the suspect had allegedly receivedRs4 million each from at least three youths of his area for sending them to Italy through Iran and Turkiye.

He says that on reaching Iran on May 12, the three youths were detained by Usman’s agent there, who subjected them to severe torture and sent a video of the atrocities to their families in Pakistan.

The agent in Iran, he says, had demanded Rs8 million ransom for the safe release of each of the youths, threatening to kill them, otherwise.

However, the official says that the FIA authorities managed to secure safe release of the kidnapped youths with the help of Iranian police, while the trafficker was also arrested, adding that further investigation was underway.

The FIA also claimed to have arrested at least four more human traffickers from Gujranwala, Wazirabad and other areas.

The arrested suspects, including Shoaib Ali, Nazar Hussain, Ameen and Tanveer Hussain,had allegedly received heavy amounts from people to send them abroad.

The official says that the FIA team also recovered at least 33 passports from Tanveer, a resident of Ahmed Nagar area of Wazirabad district.

Meanwhile, FIA Gujranwala region claimed to have arrested at least 200 human traffickers during the last two months, sending challans of 82 cases to courts.

According to a press release issued by the Gujranwala FIA, at least 542 inquiries of different cases have been completed during the period, whereas 15 human traffickers listed in the ‘Red Book’ of the FIA, were also among those arrested by the agency.

The agency has also arrested three suspects wanted in the boat capsize tragedy off the Libyan coast last year.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2024