‘Five Pakistanis waiting in Libya to be smuggled into Italy’

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Faisalabad has learnt shocking details following the arrest of two human smugglers.

Arrested agents, Abdul Rehman and Ghulam Dastgir alias Kamran, admitted to smuggling several individuals to Europe via Saudi Arabia and Libya under the pretext of Umrah pilgrimage.

According to FIA officials, the mobile phone of agent Abdul Rehman contained startling evidence. The suspect has been involved in smuggling individuals to Italy via Libya using sea routes. Recently, he facilitated the travel of two residents of a village near Faisalabad, Ahsan and Shakeeb, to Italy.

Following this, the suspect sent five more individuals — Haider, Sarwar, Amir, Subhan and Farooq — on Umrah visas to Saudi Arabia. After performing Umrah, these individuals were sent to Libya. Currently, the five are in Libya, awaiting their journey to Europe by sea. They were promised to be smuggled into Italy. FIA officials have recovered voice recordings and records of phone calls made to Libya from the suspect's mobile phone.

Copies of tickets, passports, and audio messages regarding their stay in Libya were also found on the device. Evidence of boat arrangements in Libya for their journey to Italy has also been discovered.

Details of monetary transactions into the suspects’ bank accounts have been obtained. The suspects have already received Rs27.3 million for smuggling seven individuals.