The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Saturday arrested four suspects in Karachi believed to be involved in human trafficking in the United Arab Emirates.

According to a statement issued by the FIA today, four suspects from UAE were detained after the agency conducted an operation at the Karachi airport.

“The suspects were involved illegal activities in the UAE,” the statement said.

It said that the suspects, belonging to Hafizabad, Mandi Bahauddin and Gujranwala, were arrested by UAE authorities and deported to Pakistan upon completion of their sentences.

“They arrived in Pakistan on emergency passports,” the statement added.

The crackdown against human trafficking and illegal activities was ongoing, it said, adding that global cooperation was essential against human smugglers running prostitution rings.

“The suspects were transferred to the Anti-Human Trafficking Circle in Karachi for further legal action,” the statement said.

All resources are being utilised to eliminate human trafficking, it concluded.

Separately, the FIA detained eight passengers in Karachi for interrogation who arrived from Cambodia and Mauritius.

According to the FIA spokesperson Abdul Ghafoor, the four who arrived from Mauritius were in contact with agents involved in human smuggling.

Meanwhile, the four who arrived from Cambodia were in contact with human smuggling agents living abroad.

According to the spokesperson, agents had extracted hundreds of thousands of rupees from them on the pretext of providing them jobs in Cambodia.

They were sold to “illegal” companies in Cambodia, the spokesperson said.

“These illegal companies seized travel documents from them and forced the affectees for online scamming,” Ghafoor said, adding that the victims managed to save themselves and arrived in Pakistan on an emergency passport.

The passengers were moved to an anti-smuggling circle of the FIA in Karachi for identification of the agents, the spokesperson added.

In January, more than 30 officers of the FIA were booked and dismissed from service over their alleged collusion with human smugglers in sending Pakistanis abroad illegally.

The FIA had begun the purge following the capsising of a boat carrying illegal immigrants near Greece in December last year. As per the estimate, more than 80 Pakistanis drowned in the accident, 36 were rescued. The remaining were presumed dead.

In response to the tragedy, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had ordered the authorities to take action against the human smugglers and officials aiding them. Since then, a countrywide crackdown has been launched against human smugglers, leading to the arrests of dozens of suspects.

Consequently, FIA Lahore arrested 177 human smugglers during the last three months.