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Saturday September 14, 2024

Crackdown on human smugglers

By Our crime correspondent
August 31, 2024
A representational image of a handcuffed man. — Pexels/File
A representational image of a handcuffed man. — Pexels/File

Islamabad:The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has made significant arrests in a crackdown on human traffickers, operations against visa fraud and human trafficking, 5 suspects, including Munawar Iqbal, Imran Khan, Saeed, Khalid Khan, and Sabir Ali, were arrested for their involvement in heinous crimes related to human trafficking and visa fraud, a spokesman of the FIA Headquarters said.

The suspects were apprehended from different areas of Gujrat and Gujranwala. Among them, Imran Khan swindled a citizen out of Rs6.1 million by promising to send his son and nephew to Italy. Instead of fulfilling the promise, the victims were deceitfully sent to Libya, and Imran Khan disappeared. He is identified as a member of an organized gang involved in human trafficking.

Sabir Ali, another suspect, took Rs2.3 million from a citizen under the false pretense of sending them to Italy. Munawar Iqbal extorted Rs160,000 by promising a citizen a trip to Greece, while Saeed took Rs200,000 from a victim to send them to Turkey. Khalid Khan swindled Rs280,000 by falsely offering to send the complainant to Dubai.

After receiving payments, the suspects went into hiding but have now been arrested and an investigation has been initiated. Raids are ongoing to arrest other accomplices, with all available resources being utilised to bring them to justice. Citizens are urged not to hand over their personal documents to unauthorised individuals and to always contact the relevant country's embassy for visa applications.