The nation observed a day of mourning on Monday for the victims of last week’s Greece boat tragedy as the Federal Investigation Agency said that it had formed teams in major cities across the country to nab traffickers.
FIA Director General Mohsin Hassan Butt chaired a meeting at the agency’s headquarters in Islamabad Monday.
In a statement released, a spokesperson for the FIA said a report on the Greece shipwreck was presented during the meeting, which stated that three inquiries had been initiated to probe the incident while six cases were registered.
“So far, first information reports have been lodged against more than 20 human smugglers and more than five traffickers have been arrested from Gujrat, Gujranwala and Lahore,” he said.
The FIA spokesperson quoted DG Butt as saying that human smugglers did not deserve any leniency. “The traffickers and their facilitators are international criminals.”
Butt also issued directives to take strict action against those putting up content regarding illegal border crossings on social media.
“To prevent such incidents in the future, a meeting of the FIA’s inter-agency task force has also been called in which an effective strategy will be chalked out,” the agency added.
Moreover, special teams have been formed in Islamabad, Lahore, Gujrat, Gujranwala and Rawalpindi to arrest the suspects as soon as possible.
Earlier in the day, the spokesperson said the agency’s Anti-Human Trafficking Circle in Gujrat had apprehended a “key suspect” involved in the boat tragedy.
He said the captured suspect, identified as agent Waqas Ahmed, had received a sum of Rs2.3 million each from individuals in exchange for facilitating their illegal journey to Greece, adding that his involvement in acquiring money from other citizens was also being probed.
The FIA said that the apprehended suspect hailed from Wazirabad. In addition, the agency said that it was carrying out raids in order to apprehend more individuals involved in human trafficking.
The spokesperson further said that three people including a “key suspect” allegedly involved in the incident had been apprehended.
In a tweet last night, the FIA said it had arrested a suspect from Karachi airport.
