Youth killed over mobile phone video in Gujrat

GUJRAT: A young man was shot dead in Gujrat’s Saddar Kharian area after assailants allegedly tried to seize his mobile phone containing a video recording, according to police and the complainant in the case.

The incident took place in village Dhunni, where four suspects identified as Aqib, Salman, Daniyal and an unidentified accomplice allegedly entered an under-construction building owned by Aamir Shahzad. There, they attempted to snatch the phone from Muhammad Yousaf, a resident of Muzaffargarh district who had been living in the area.

During the attack, the suspects also allegedly assaulted Yousaf’s uncle, Mujahid Hussain, and pressured him to hand over Yousaf’s phone. After taking the device, the attackers opened fire on Yousaf, killing him at the scene before fleeing, police said.

Ghulam Yaseen, a close relative of the deceased and the complainant, alleged that Yousaf had recorded diesel being stolen from the tractor of a landlord, Amir Shahzad, and that the suspects wanted to erase the footage. Police registered a case and arrested three of the four nominated suspects.

FIA arrests 23 in Gujranwala region

In a separate development, the Federal Investigation Agency arrested 23 people linked to human trafficking operations in the Gujranwala region over the past week, according to an FIA spokesman.

The spokesman said the detainees included six proclaimed offenders and were involved in defrauding clients of Rs49 million by promising to send them abroad. Among those arrested was Allah Ditta, who allegedly took Rs12.5 million from a citizen on the pretext of arranging travel to Canada.

The other arrested suspects named by the FIA were Muhammad Yousaf, Zainul Abedin and Muhammad Asghar. The agency also said two of the suspects were involved in Umrah visa fraud, while one person was arrested in a money laundering case.