NAROWAL: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Gujranwala arrested nine suspects for collecting Rs39 million from people to send them abroad, visa fraud and human trafficking.

Those arrested included two most wanted human smugglers. They were identified as Nasir Iqbal, Muhammad Iqbal, Munir Ahmed, Zaheeruddin Babar, Syed Hassan Bukhari, Ashraf Qaiser, Imran Ashraf, Muhammad Yunus and Muhammad Akram.

The suspects have been arrested from the areas of Gujranwala, Gujarat, Narowal, Sialkot and Mandi Bahauddin.

Nasir Iqbal, a proclaimed offender, had extorted Rs100,000 from a citizen for sending him to Turkey while Muhammad Iqbal had extorted Rs140,000 from a citizen. They were wanted by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) since 2018.

Shamshad Munir Ahmed had received Rs3.5m for sending a citizen to France. Zaheeruddin Babar had received Rs3.8m by promising to send a man to Canada. Syed Muhammad Hassan Bukhari had received Rs16.5m from a citizen. Ashraf Qaiser had collected Rs400,000 by tricking a citizen in the name of Italy. Imran Ashraf had collected 13,500 dirhams for sending a man to Dubai.

Muhammad Yunus had collected Rs 5.1 million from the citizen by tricking him to send him to Italy. Muhammad Akram had got Rs10m by tricking his four victims in the name of Spain. All suspects had collectively received Rs39m for sending citizens abroad.

Published in Dawn, December 31st, 2025