10 human smugglers, 9 proclaimed offenders arrested

Islamabad

The Anti-Human Trafficking Cell (AHTC) of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), in a crackdown on human-smugglers and agents, claimed to have arrested 10 human smugglers and nine proclaimed offenders, while an illegal gateway exchange was also seized during last three days.

In a crackdown on human traffickers, agents and proclaimed offenders, the AHTC arrested four men accused of human-trafficking, including Mazhar Mushtaq from Toba Tek Singh, Muhammad Umar (Gujrat), Alamdar Hussain (Khushab) and Nasir Arshad (Gujrat).

As many as four men accused of human-trafficking were arrested when the FIA (Punjab) conducted operations in Lahore and Gujranwala. Two were arrested from Lahore and Gujranwala. On Tuesday, an accused, named Aslam, was arrested in a case (FIR No. 418/2009), while one more accused, M Akram, was taken into custody in a case (FIR No. 668 & 671/2007).

In another instance, the Anti-Human Trafficking Cell of Interior Ministry nabbed two travel agents, Asif Khan from Mirpur, and Adnan Qasim, a resident of Gujrat.

While two proclaimed offenders, including Juma Khan, resident of Joriwala Jhang, and Shahbaz Qadir were arrested from Faisalabad.

On Wednesday, the AHTC arrested seven proclaimed offenders, including Muhammad Ashfaq, a resident of Lahore in case number C-925/15, M. Alyas, Younas Javid Mashi, residents of Lahore, in case number C-977/14, while ffour surrendered after interim bail, including M. Azam, M. Sajeel, both residents of Gunranwala, in case number C-763/14, Matlub Hussain, a resident of Rawalpindi, in case number C-193/7 and Babar Naeem, a resident of Lahore, in case number C-482/15.

Five accused were arrested, including M. Ashraf, a resident of Narowal, under FIR No. 1180/15, Nasir Ishaq, a resident of Gujranwala, under FIR No. 204/11, M. Aqeel Tariq, a resident of Lahore, under FIR No. 84/16, Naseer Ahmed, Zawar M. Afzal, residents of Hafizabad in FIR No. 85/16.

Meanwhile, a raid was conducted on the Gateway Exchange of 64 Ports and more than 800 SIMs, 2 laptops, and systems were recovered. Three accused -- Abdul Waris, Muhammad Kamran and Muhammad Khan -- were arrested who were running the Gateway Exchange in Dule Wali, Tehsil Daria Khan, District Bhakar. Police registered an FIR against the accused.