GUJRAT: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) claimed to have arrested two passport agents and 15 alleged human traffickers during an ongoing crackdown in the region.

As per details, An FIA Gujrat circle team raided a photo copier shop in front of the regional passport office and arrested two suspects allegedly involved in fleecing passport applicants.

The arrested suspects were identified as Muhammad Shoaib and Syed Tehseen Shah and passport applications, computerised tokens, bank slips and other material was recovered from them. The Gujrat FIA circle registered a case and started investigations from the arrested suspects.

Meanwhile, the FIA Gujranwala zone claimed to have arrested 15 human traffickers, including some proclaimed offenders, during a crackdown against illegal human trafficking networks in the region.

The arrested suspects were allegedly involved in sending their clients illegally to Libya and other countries to further smuggle them to Italy and other European countries. The arrested traffickers were reportedly involved in a financial scam of Rs34.3 million with their clients.

FIA claimed that human trafficker Muhammad Jameel of Gujranwala had received Rs8 million from a citizen and attempted to send him to Italy from Libya but failed. Similarly, it claimed that another trafficker Nadeem Mahmood was arrested for sending a citizen to Libya for Italy by taking Rs2.5 million. However, the citizen was made hostage at a safe house in Libya where he was being subjected to severe physical torture demanding more money from his family.

An FIA Gujranwala zone spokesperson said that six suspects were arrested from Gujranwala and Gujrat circles each and three were arrested in Sialkot and further investigation was underway.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2026