GUJRAT: The immigration wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) offloaded two passengers, including a suspect wanted by Gujranwala police, from two different flights at the Sialkot International Airport.

As per sources in the FIA, during immigration clearance of Flight G9553, the officials detected a passenger, Tanveer, a resident of Gujranwala, having Passport No FG7793361, whose name was on the no-fly list. He was traveling to Saudi Arabia.

As per the FIA, the suspect was wanted by Gujranwala district police in case number 1501/2024, registered on Aug 10, 2024 with Kamoke Saddar police.

The passenger was offloaded from the flight and handed over to the police concerned.

Similarly, a woman, Iqra Latif of Gujranwala was offloaded during immigration clearance of flight FZ-316. She was traveling to Iran.

As per the officials, the woman had neither hotel booking in Iran, nor had enough money for the trip. Furthermore, they said, a work visa of Serbia was pasted on the page No 6 of her passport and according to her, the visa was issued from Tehran (Iran). However, as per the record, she had never traveled to Iran earlier.

The officials say that the woman’s name was also among those whose visas had been cancelled by the Serbian government.

During interrogation, she revealed that two agents -- Qazim Raza and Kashif -- had received Rs1.2 million from her to send her to Serbia on work visa via Iran.

She was handed over to the FIA’s Anti Human Trafficking Cell, Gujranwala, for further action.

arrested: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) claimed to have arrested four human traffickers from Gujranwala and Sialkot districts during an ongoing crackdown in the region.

An FIA spokesman said the suspect, Kashif, a resident of Noshehra Virkan, Gujranwala, had been arrested in case number 801/24 under section 17/22(b) of Emigration Ordinance 1979.

He said the suspect allegedly extorted Rs350,000 from the complainant on the pretext of sending him to UAE on an employment visa.

Similarly, he said, two other suspects, Shahid of Kot Ramdas, Daska tehsil of Sialkot and Muhammad Ali of the same area have been arrested in a case registered with the FIA’s Gujranwala circle.

The suspects allegedly received Rs600,000 for sending the complainant’s son to Azerbaijan for employment.

Another suspect, Abu Sufyan of Qila Deedar Singh, Gujranwala, was arrested in a case lodged against him for extorting Rs3.5 million from the complainant on the pretext of sending his son to Canada for employment, but did not fulfill his commitment.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2025