LAHORE: Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi visited the FIA Zonal Office Lahore and, chairing a special meeting, directed comprehensive action against the mafia involved in human smuggling and hawala-hundi operations.
During the meeting, the Interior Minister reviewed the upgradation project of the FIA Zonal Office Lahore and directed that the project be completed swiftly. He also stressed further intensifying action against elements involved in human smuggling and hawala-hundi.
Mohsin Naqvi directed that the entire chain of the human smuggling and hawala-hundi mafia be brought within the grip of the law, and that a comprehensive crackdown be carried out against criminal gangs.
He said that a thorough crackdown against criminal gangs is your responsibility and results must be visible in this regard.
The Federal Interior Minister said that officers and staff of the FIA are being provided every possible facility and resource, and that further resources will also be provided.
The emphasis on targeting the complete chain rather than individual arrests reflects a structural feature of human smuggling operations. Networks that move people irregularly out of Pakistan typically involve multiple tiers — local recruiters who identify and persuade prospective migrants, document forgers, financial handlers who collect and route payments, transporters, and overseas facilitators who receive migrants at transit and destination points.
Enforcement action that captures only the lowest tier, usually recruiters or drivers, leaves the organising and financing structure intact and allows operations to resume with replaced personnel. The financial dimension is central: hawala-hundi channels, which move value without corresponding physical movement of currency across borders, provide the payment infrastructure on which smuggling operations depend, while also facilitating undocumented remittance flows that erode formal banking channels and foreign exchange reserves.
The meeting decided to replace old cameras present at immigration counters at airports across the country, while approval in principle was also granted for the installation of cameras equipped with the latest technology.
Immigration counters represent the primary chokepoint at which irregular departures can be intercepted. The quality of imaging equipment at these counters affects both real-time verification and the evidentiary record available afterwards for investigating how a particular departure was cleared.
An in-principle decision was also taken at the meeting to obtain the services of the Pak ID app for the registration of complaints.
During the meeting, the Director of the FIA Zonal Office Lahore gave a briefing on progress on the upgradation project and on the office’s performance.
The briefing stated that 1,670 FIRs were registered during the past one year, while 4,000 of 5,000 inquiries were disposed of. During this period, 295 proclaimed offenders were also arrested.
The disposal rate of eighty percent on inquiries and the arrest of 295 proclaimed offenders — accused persons formally declared absconders by courts — provide the quantitative measure against which the Minister’s demand for visible results will be assessed going forward.
The Director General of the FIA, the Director of the FIA Zonal Office Lahore and all circle in-charges attended the meeting.
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