GUJRAT, Jan 05 (TNS): The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has apprehended the central character of a human trafficking network that facilitated illegal transportation of Pakistani nationals, who drowned in a shipwreck off Libya coast on January 31, a deputy director with the agency said Sunday.
The prime suspect, Mehboob Shah, was apprehended along with accomplice Mudassir from Gujrat, said Mufakhir Adeel, deputy director of the FIA.
“Mehboob Shah is Gaddi Nasheen (administrative head) of Darbar Baba Faqeer Shah, who had sent deceased of shipwreck incident to Libya,” the official said.
He explained that Mehboob’s brother lives in Libya, while his son in Italy, adding, “The suspect ran the human smuggling network together with his brother and son.”
“Mehboob Shah would send people to Libya via Dubai, therefrom they would be transported to Italy through the sea route,” Adeel said.
Earlier in the day, the FIA claimed to have arrested four human smugglers linked to the recent capsizing of an immigrants’ boat in Libya in which several Pakistanis were killed.
FIA officials said the suspects were rounded up after raids were conducted in Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin and Gujranwala.
The Foreign Office (FO) said on Saturday that 16 Pakistanis died in the boat sinking incident off the Libyan coast. A boat carrying migrants capsized off the coast of Zuwara, Libya early Friday, International Organization for Migration (IOM) spokesperson Olivia Headon confirmed to reporters in Geneva by phone from Tunis.
“At least 90 migrants are reported to have drowned when a boat capsized off the coast of Libya this morning”, the agency added in a statement.
The Pakistanis belonged to Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin, Rawalpindi and Sargodha areas of Punjab.
FIA officials said Sunday that the human smugglers were connected with sending the recent victims to Libya.
Moreover, officials identified a Gujrat-based family of four today that perished in the incident. Sources said Ismail, his wife Azmat, and two young children, are among the deceased migrants.
Gujar Khan resident Fareed, also among the deceased, contacted his family three days ago, said his family, adding that their loved one had gone to Libya to look for work.
