GUJRAT: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Gujranwala claimed to have arrested three “human traffickers”, including a woman linked to the notorious Jajja network of Pasrur teshil of Sialkot, allegedly involved in sending some of those abroad, who were among the victims of Greece and Libya boat tragedies.

As per an FIA official, a woman Isha Fatima, wife of Saqib Jajja, a resident of Mohriky Jajja village of Pasrur tehsil of Sialkot district, has been booked in two cases (No 1131/24 and 1132/24) registered by Gujranwal circle on Dec 24, under section 17/22 of the Emigration Ordinance 1979, read with sections 3 and 6 of the Prevention of Smuggling of Migrants Act (PSMA) 2018.

He said that the suspect, on behalf of her husband, allegedly extorted Rs4.5 million from some of the illegal emigrants to send them to Greece on employment visa, who were later rescued in the boat incident.

Her husband Saqib Jajja has been nominated in at least eight cases lodged with the FIA’s Gujranwala circle.

Official sources say that none of the male members of the Jajja network could so far been arrested by the FIA as one of the prime suspect, Khurram Jajja, is in Libya, whereas his wife, who was also nominated a number of cases, has also disappeared since the boat tragedy.

They said that against these human traffickers so far 25 cases have been registered, 19 by FIA’s Gujranwal circle and six by Gujrat circle. Of these, three cases each have been registered against Ashraf Saleemi of Hellan village in Mandi Bahauddin and Qaiser of Nandpur locality of Jalalpur Jattan town in Gujrat district.

Meanwhile, the Gujranwala FIA claimed to have arrested a “notorious human smuggler” Abdullah Shahzad Kambho, a resident of Ladhawala Goraya village in Kamokay tehsil in two cases (193/23 and 194/23) registered June 20, 2023 under section 17/22 of EO 1979 read with sections 3 and 6 of the PSMA 2018.

The suspect allegedly extorted Rs2.9m from the families of some illegal emigrants who later died in the boat tragedy occurring in 2023.

Meanwhile, in another raid conducted in Nandpur locality of Jalalpur Jattan town late on Thursday, FIA arrested a key suspect allegedly linked to the recent Greece boat incident.

An FIA official says the suspect, Yasir Shoukat, is involved in extorting money on the pretext of sending people to Italy via illegal means.

The suspect, he says, would send potential illegal emigrants to Saudi Arabia on a visa to perform Umrah and later smuggle them into Libya via Egypt, in connivance with his accomplices.

Some of the persons the suspect had sent to Greece were among over 40 who later died in the boat tragedy on Dec 14, 2024, he adds.

He says the FIA team also recovered documents from the suspect, including seven Pakistani passports,18 copies of Pakistani passports, at least nine blank visa stickers of Libya, four copies of Umrah visa, eight Egypt visas, 23 air tickets to different countries, two deposit slips, two mobile phones and one original CNIC.

A case (No 22/24) has been registered against the suspect under sections 420, 468, 471 and 109 of the PPC and relevant sections of EO 1979 and PSMA 2018, the official adds adds.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2024