GUJRAT: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Gujranwala circle claims to have arrested a human trafficker from Lahore who was reportedly involved in sending his clients abroad on fake visas of Greek Cyprus.

A senior FIA official told Dawn that human trafficking agent Nawaz Minhas had managed to get emigrant employment visas of Greek Cyprus for Asas Ali and Ali Hamza who were intercepted and deported by the Larnaca airport authorities for having a false/counterfeit/forged visa or resident permit.

The intending immigrants reached Sialkot airport on Oct 2 and were handed over to anti-human trafficking cell, Gujranwala.

An initial investigation revealed that Nawaz Minhas had extorted Rs6.4 million from the two individuals to facilitate their entry into France, an act carried out with the active involvement of an accomplice.

Meanwhile, the FIA also arrested two human traffickers from Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin districts during a crackdown.

An FIA spokesman said Jumma Khan was apprehended in a case of sending a child to Italy through Libyan coast, however, the effort was resulted in the tragic demise of the child.

He said the agent had extorted an amount of Rs4.8m from the complainant for sending his brother and cousin to Italy.

Another human trafficker, Riaz Ahmed, was arrested from Phalia Tehsil of Mandi Bahauddin by FIA Gujrat Circle in connection with a case lodged against him.

Cigarettes seized: The Inland Revenue Enforcement Network (IREN) of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Gujranwala circle, on Tuesday seized 170 cartons of a cigarette brand on which federal excise duty and sales tax had not been paid.

According to a press release issued by the Regional Tax Office, the IREN Squad, on the basis of intelligence provided by RTO, Gujranwala, intercepted a vehicle at Chan Da Qila, GT Road.

The team recovered 170 cartons of a cigarette brand without bearing FBR barcode from the vehicle and transferred the stock to the Gujranwala RTO, for further legal proceedings.

The FBR has already launched a crackdown on unregistered cigarette brands and those being sold without tax stamps.

The IREN Squad in charge Javed Iqbal stated that federal excise duty and sales tax had not been paid on the seized cigarettes, and the packets did not bear the FBR barcode stamps, indicating that these were illegally removed from the factory without tax payment.

He further said that the department will not allow sale of illegal cigarettes.

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2025