LAHORE, Aug 30: Forty-six ‘illegal’ immigrants deported from Greece were handed over to the Federal Investigation Agency on Thursday for investigation.

Most of them belong to Gujranwala division.

“I paid Rs300,000 to a local agent to arrange my travel to Greece,” an FIA official quoted one of the deportees, Saraj Latif of Gujrat, as having said.

Latif told the FIA the agent’s men helped him, along with seven others, to cross into Iran and then Turkey by road. “However, we were arrested while entering Greece,” he was quoted as saying. Latif said he had no job and wanted to go abroad to earn livelihood for his family. “I knew about the difficulties I had to face during the journey, but I never thought about being caught. All my dreams have been shattered,” he said.

An official said during interrogation the deportees told the agency they had paid from Rs250,000 to Rs400,000 to agents for their travel through land route – Quetta, Iran, Turkey and Greece.

“No travel documents were required as the agents had a network in the three countries to facilitate their clients,” he said.