Gujrat: According to Dawn, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has started the process of seizing the belongings of people engaged in human trafficking in accordance with recent directives from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Initiated under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) 2010, the action primarily targets suspects already in FIA custody as well as those charged in human trafficking and associated offenses.
According to the AMLA, investigating officers can designate a suspect’s property to be seized to the directorate-level anti-money laundering cell, which can start the procedure by getting the concerned magistrate’s approval in a matter of days.
PM Shehbaz Sharif gave the relevant officials instructions last week to effectively speed up the prosecution of everyone implicated in human smuggling.
In order to speed up the extradition of the Pakistanis suspected of conducting human trafficking operations overseas, he directed the Foreign Office to get in touch with the appropriate states and directed the authorities to select the best attorneys for prosecution after consulting with the law ministry.
The expropriation of the assets in each district of the Gujranwala region was confirmed by sources in the local land revenue department.
According to an FIA source, the first phase would involve seizing the assets and properties of human traffickers involved in the recent Greek boat tragedy. This would be followed by similar action against those involved in the June 2023 boat tragedy off the coast of Libya, as both incidents resulted in the deaths of dozens of illegal immigrants who were planning to travel to Europe.
According to official sources, because the majority of the traffickers were from Central Punjab’s Sialkot, Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin, and Gujranwala districts, assets were being taken in these areas.
Authorities in Sialkot’s Pasrur tehsil have previously identified human traffickers who are part of the Jajja network. The FIA marked the properties of suspected human trafficker Ashraf Saleemi and his associates in Hellan village, as well as other such agents, for forfeiture in Mandi Bahauddin.
At least two further people traffickers were reportedly detained by the FIA in connection with the recent catastrophe in Greece that killed at least 40 Pakistanis on December 14, 2024.
The FIA crime circle in Gujrat has made the arrests in the districts of Hafizabad and Gujrat.
Imran Shakoor, a resident of Bhaddar village in the Kharian tehsil of Gujarat, was named as the main suspect in the people smuggling network, according to a top FIA official.
According to the official, the suspect was successfully located and taken into custody after his accomplice, Zain Ali, was previously taken into custody in the same case on Saturday the previous week from the Sukheki region of the Hafizabad district.
Zafar Iqbal, a Mandi Bahauddin resident and another accused human trafficker, was detained after he allegedly demanded Rs700,000 from a man who promised to send his son to Italy for work abroad.