GUJRAT: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) claimed on Tuesday to have arrested five alleged human traffickers, including a proclaimed offender (PO), during a crackdown across Gujranwala region.

A spokesman for FIA says the four of the arrested suspects, Ghulam Murtaza, Ashiq Hussain, Zohaib and Shafi, were allegedly involved in defrauding people on the pretext of sending them abroad, receiving at least Rs8.6 million from different complainants.

He added that Murataza alone received Rs3.8m from a man for sending him to Italy, but neither fulfilled his commitment, nor returned the amount.

The arrested suspects had received the amounts on the pretext of sending people to Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Behrain and Saudi Arabia.

The arrests were made by Gujranwala and Sialkot FIA circles.

Meanwhile, the FIA also arrested a suspected human smuggler,Qaiser Abbas, who had been declared a proclaimed offender.

The FIA has registered cases against the suspects and started investigations.

Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2026