GUJRAT: Munawar Sunyara, the ringleader of a notorious human trafficking gang, known as Sunyara Gang, has been arrested in Libya and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is all set to repatriate him through Interpol.

Munawar Sunyara (real name Munawar Hussain) was wanted in dozens of cases, mainly related to the 2023 and 2024 boat capsize tragedies in Libya. His name was also included in FIA’s red book of 2025.

A senior FIA official told Dawn that the Libyan authorities had arrested Munawar and his red warrants were already issued by Interpol on the request of FIA whose team was already in Libya where the authorities were about to hand over his custody to the agency. The accused could be repatriated within a week.

Sunyara Gang of Gujrat and Jajja Gang (Asif Jajja) from Pasrur, Sialkot, had been the most wanted networks of the human traffickers. Ringleaders of both gangs were settled abroad for a long time.

Munawar’s arrest in Libya is being considered a major achievement in the crackdown on human traffickers in Gujranwala and Gujrat areas. However, the head of Jajja Gang is yet to be arrested, the FIA official said and added that six members of Sunyara Gang were already in FIA Gujrat custody.

According to an FIA report, Sunyara Gang emerged in 2023 and it was considered a highly organised human trafficking network, targeting deprived segments of society, particularly unemployed youth.

They would allure individuals with promises of travel to Europe via Libya. The members of this gang moved to Libya in early 1990s, where they did business of Gold in the city of Bin Ghazi under the name of Johar-e-Madine and others.

This gang was also involved in illegal Hundi-Hawala transactions, facilitating the transfer of black money.

After the boat incidents in 2023, the gang members never visited Pakistan and they were declared proclaimed offenders in multiple cases. However, they kept operating from Libya where they used to keep illegal migrants, managing Libyan valid visas and air tickets from Pakistan to Libya.

They would transport illegal migrants from Libyan ports to Italy and Greece.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2026