FIA arrests 46 suspects in Gujranwala region over human trafficking

GUJRAT: The Federal Investigation Agency has arrested 46 suspects in the Gujranwala region over the past two weeks in a crackdown on alleged human trafficking, according to an FIA Gujranwala Zone spokesman.

The spokesman said those taken into custody included seven proclaimed offenders. He said the suspects were accused of collecting a total of Rs100 million from people on the promise of sending them to various destinations, including European countries, America, Iraq and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

According to the FIA spokesman, most of the arrests were made after information provided by deportees from Libya, while three of the suspects were allegedly linked to illegal money transaction networks. He said 18 suspects were arrested by the Gujranwala circle, while the Gujrat and Sialkot circles made 14 arrests each.

Separately, two passengers were stopped from travelling at Sialkot International Airport after they allegedly tried to go abroad using fake documents, the spokesman said. He added that the two had paid Rs5.6 million to agents for arranging forged visas and other travel papers. The agency has said it will continue operations against human trafficking networks across the Gujranwala region.