PESHAWAR: In a major operation, the Federal Investigation Agency’s Anti-Human Trafficking Circle arrested three key members of an organised human smuggling network.

An FIA spokesman said the operation was carried out based on credible intelligence. The suspects, identified as Saddam, Dareesh Mohammad, and Mohammad Ilyas, were held during a raid at a trade centre here.

Initial investigations revealed the prime suspect, Saddam was involved in smuggling people from Peshawar to Libya, and then onward to Europe. He reportedly extorted large sums of money from the victims in the process.

During the raid, officials recovered five Pakistani passports from Saddam’s possession.

Authorities also recovered substantial evidence related to human smuggling activities, including documents indicating connections with international smuggling networks and plans for illegal migration to Europe.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2025