FIA’s hunt for human smugglers intensifies after boat tragedy

ISLAMABAD: On the night of June 13, Sarfraz Ahmed received a call from an agent who had flown his son abroad, Italy having supposed to be the promised destination. The agents – Zubair Mahr and Abdul Khaliq – were from Sarfraz’s village, Sook Kalan, in the Gujrat district. They called him through WhatsApp to inform him that his son Musaib Ahmed had landed in Italy and so he needed to pay up the outstanding amount of Rs500,000. What Sarfraz did not know was that the agents were lying: Musaib had not landed in Italy.

Musaib was instead in the overcrowded fishing boat which sank off the Greek coast in the early hours of June 14. More than 250 Pakistanis were onboard, joined by Egyptians, Syrians and Palestinians. The majority of Pakistanis were from the Gujrat district. Their number stands at 163, according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs statistics. Musaib was one of them. After completing his matriculation, he had wanted to fly to Europe and so had sought his father’s help in accumulating funds.

Sarfraz, a cab driver who owned his taxi, had only this one source of livelihood. But he sold his taxi and took loans in order to arrange the Rs2.5 million the agent had demanded as advance for flying his son to Italy. He was to pay Rs3 million in total for His son finally reaching Italy. The payment was made in the presence of two notables of the village. Since Sarfraz was promised that his son would be flown to Italy instead of being taken through the land route, he was satisfied. It later transpired that these intending immigrants are flown to Libya but from there onward a deadly journey starts to Italy through a fishing boat. By the time Safraz got to know this, it was too late.

Now, the Federal Investigation Agency, is combing through cities and villages in search of the agents -- including the above-mentioned -- who lured Sarfraz and his son into such a deadly plan. So far, 111 FIRs have been registered in the FIA’s Gujrat zone alone. As many as 92 human smugglers have been identified, 38 of them arrested. Muhammad Saleem alia Saleem Sanyara is the most high-profile among them and it is believed that his brother, Asif Sanyara alias Asif Billa, is a ring leader. Their surname ‘Sanyara’ denotes their family occupation -- jewellers -- but they have been into human smuggling for several years now.

Asif operates from BenGhazi in Libya where he reportedly has an elaborate infrastructure of safe houses for accommodating the migrant boys before they are made to board the mostly decrepit fishing boats on their way to Italy. Old boats are used because these human smugglers understand they will likely be confiscated by coast guards and others, keeping in view their illegal activities. Even the pilots and mechanics of these boats, the FIA says, are trained from among the intending immigrants for the same reason.

The investigation conducted by the FIA suggests that Asif is influential enough to arrange Libyan visas for the intending immigrants through his network in Libya. One Ashraf Libbi is described as his main partner there. Not only are dozens of Pakistani agents linked with Asif, but according to the FIA he is said to have an organized network in Libya as well. The agents who had promised Musaib migration are also linked with Asif who has two other brothers, Allah Rakha Jameel and Muhammad Waheed, also living in Libya.

Saleem had been in hiding since the boat sank but remained on the FIA’s radar. He first moved to Sindh. On sensing danger there, he drove to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and from there he moved to a village in his native area. The FIA arrested him during a raid. Saleem has been one of his brother Asif’s money-collecting agents here in Pakistan. From four victims of the Greece boat tragedy, he extorted Rs10 million -- to ostensibly send them to Italy. Saleem was connected with another member of his brother’s network, Saith Masood of Gujrat, who would collect money from agents and transfer to Libya through hundi/hawala. During the investigation, Saleem has reportedly admitted having received Rs500 million from different agents in the last nine months and transferring the same to Saith Masood for onward transfer to Libya.