GUJRAT: A high-ranking government team visiting Morocco to probe the deaths of 44 Pakistani illegal immigrants traveling to Spain from Mauritania in a boat, is expected to return to Islamabad by Thursday (today).

Well placed sources told Dawn here on Wednesday that the four-member team, headed by interior ministry Additional Secretary Salman Chaudhry had left the country on Saturday the last on the orders of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to hold a thorough investigation into the incident, resulting in deaths of at least 44 Pakistanis. while 21 others survived.

The sources say that the team held detailed interviews of the 21 survivors in Moroccan town of Dakhla on the sea shore about their plight on the Spain-bound boat in Atlantic Ocean, where African human traffickers reportedly murdered several of Pakistanis on board.

Moreover, they said the team also held meetings with the officials of Pakistan’s embassy in Rabat, as well as the Moroccan authorities.

Will submit report to PM for further action

The team will submit its report to the PM after its return to the country, for further action to be taken by the government with regard to the tragic deaths of Pakistani nationals.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) high-ups have also been awaiting the report’s findings, which may also contain details about the human traffickers’ networks and their local agents involved in illegally sending the victims of the boat tragedy abroad.

A senior FIA official says that so far at least six cases have been lodged against the suspects linked to the deaths in the boat incident.

He says four of the cases are registered by the FIA’s Gujranwala circle and two by its Gujrat circle, whereas two of the nominated suspects, including a woman, have so far been arrested.

He adds that eight suspects are still at large, whose names have been included in the stop list, while the process for seizure of assets of some of them has also been initiated.

ARRESTED: The FIA’s Gujrat circle on Wednesday claimed to have arrested a human trafficker from Sargodha, who was allegedly involved in trafficking children to Libya.

A spokesman for the FIA says that the suspect, Ghulam Murtaza, a resident of Bhera Miani Naqshiya in Bhera tehsil of Sargodha, has been apprehended in case No 7/2025, under section 22(b) of Emigration Ordinance 1979, and 3/6 of the Prevention Of Smuggling Of Migrants Act (PSMA) 2018.

The suspect, he says, was wanted for trafficking children to Libya, who later went missing, while attempting to reach Italy.

He says the suspect allegedly extorted Rs7.1 million from a complainant for sending his brother and friends to Italy. Further investigation is underway, he adds.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2025