PESHAWAR: The Federal Investigation Agency on Friday arrested two alleged human smugglers involved in sending Afghan nationals abroad using Pakistani passports, officials said.

They said that the accused – Shafiullah and Khurshid – were arrested from a trade centre in Peshawar Saddar by a team of the FIA Kohat region on a tip-off provided by the agency’s link office in Italy.

A statement issued here said that the accused were involved in sending Afghans to Saudi Arabia via Kabul on Pakistani passports.

The statement said that the team recovered 15 Pakistani passports and cell phones during the raid. It added that the mobile phone data carried details about Pakistani and Afghan passports.

“The arrested persons were wanted by the FIA’s Peshawar office in human smuggling and fraud cases,” the statement said, adding that the accused were being investigated and raids were being conducted to arrest the other accused.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2025