LAHORE: The Anti-Human Trafficking Circles of the Federal Investigation Agency have arrested 10 suspects involved in visa fraud and human smuggling in operations conducted across the country.
According to the FIA, the operations were carried out in various areas including Lahore and Sialkot. Two suspected human smugglers were arrested in Lahore and eight in Sialkot.
The suspects arrested in Lahore have been named as Aqib and Muhammad Javed. Those named from Sialkot include Muhammad Shabbir, Muhammad Iqbal, Abdul Shakoor, Abdul Aleem, Noman Saleem and Aamir Ali Bhatti.
According to FIA officials, the suspects are accused of extracting millions of rupees from unsuspecting citizens by luring them with the promise of jobs abroad, and of attempting to send them out of the country through illegal means.
Related: Security Forces Foil Infiltration on Pak-Afghan Border; CM Punjab Pays Tribute
The FIA said investigation of the arrested suspects is under way, while raids are being carried out at various locations for the arrest of their remaining associates.
The concentration of arrests in Sialkot reflects a long-established pattern. The Gujrat–Sialkot–Mandi Bahauddin belt of central Punjab has for decades been the country’s principal source region for irregular migration to Europe, sustained by dense diaspora networks that both create demand and supply the local agent infrastructure that services it.
Agents operating in these districts typically hold no licence from the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment, the body that regulates lawful overseas recruitment. The absence of a licence is itself an offence and is frequently the charge on which first arrests are made, ahead of the more complex smuggling and fraud allegations.
The pattern described by the FIA is consistent across cases. A recruiter advertises employment in a Gulf state or in Europe, collects an advance running into hundreds of thousands or millions of rupees, and either produces a visit visa presented as a work visa, or arranges movement through overland and sea routes.
Victims who pay for a legitimate-looking package frequently discover only on arrival that the visa carries no right to work, leaving them undocumented, indebted and without recourse.
Prosecutions proceed under the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act 2018 and the Prevention of Smuggling of Migrants Act 2018, which distinguish between trafficking — involving coercion and exploitation — and smuggling, the facilitation of illegal entry into another state for financial benefit. The Emigration Ordinance 1979 governs the licensing of overseas employment promoters.
Convictions in such cases have historically been limited by the difficulty of securing testimony from victims who are themselves outside the country or who fear their own legal exposure.
Leave a Reply