Human traffickers
ISLAMABAD: Still 20,000 Pakistanis in the safe houses of human traffickers in Libya who are waiting for their turn to travel to Italy by sea.
Hence, they are waiting for their “journey towards death” from Libya to the coast of Greece.
Usman Siddique, a police official from Gujrat, made this stunning disclosure while talking to the media in Gujrat, Pakistan. Usman, who survived the Greece boat tragedy, has reached Pakistan.
He got one year’s leave from the Punjab police department and reached Libya through human traffickers. Usman paid a huge amount of money to the agent, involving at least 2.5 million rupees. Some individuals paid up to 3.5 million rupees each to human traffickers to reach Italy from Libya.
He told the media that thousands of Pakistanis are stilling in the safe houses of the agents in Libya.
“If timely efforts were not made to rescue them, we should expect more tragedies soon,” he added.
Usman Siddique is among 12 Pakistanis who were lucky to survive the boat tragedy. He has returned to his hometown Kaleki village in Gujrat city, about 80 km from Lahore.
Usman said that the boat was carrying 700 people including 350 Pakistanis. Most Pakistanis belonged to Gujrat, Gujranwala, Mandi Bahauddin, and Azad Kashmir regions.
He claimed the boat had been stranded at sea for several hours after it went off course.
Around 12 hours before the tragedy, a helicopter took pictures and flew away, he added.
Moreover, a cargo ship also stopped near the boat on the same day and its crew gave water bottles and bread to people on the boat.
“Another ship arrived at the scene and towed our boat with a rope. However, as soon as the ship pulled the boat, it started breaking up.”
“A hue and cry started there as people were drowning. Some held on to the rope after falling off and they remained alive”, Mr Siddique said.
A tourist ship arrived early in the morning and shifted 100 people to the shore.
FIA arrest another key human trafficker from Gujrat
Meanwhile, the Federal Investigation Agency had arrested one of the two main human traffickers in connection with the Greece and Libya shipwreck tragedies.
Last month, an Italy-bound fishing trawler reportedly carrying at least 800 people — including approximately 350 Pakistanis — capsized off Greece.
The incident led to a day of mourning and a nationwide crackdown on human smugglers.
Meanwhile, there have been two other notable incidents of boats drowning off the coast of Libya in the Mediterranean Sea this year in which several Pakistanis — among others — lost their lives. The first incident took place in February and the other in April, but the authorities did not specify in which case the latest arrest was made.
A spokesperson for FIA said that the Agency has arrested Mohammad Saleem Saniyare, a key figure in the Greek tragedy from Gujrat.
289 Pakistanis die in Greece boat tragedy
ISLAMABAD At least 289 Pakistanis lost their lives in a boat target that took place off the Greece coast a few days ago.
The overcrowded boat carrying more than 700 illegal immigrants crashed just away from the coast of Greece.
10 Agents arrested in AJK
The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) police arrested 10 agents for their involvement in the trafficking of people to Europe, including those who died in the Greece boat tragedy.
On June 14, an overcrowded boat, carrying 750 people crashed in open seas off the Greece coast. Many Pakistanis have also died in the tragedy. The exact death toll of Pakistanis is yet not available.
The Foreign Office said that so far 12 Pakistanis have been rescued.
According to police, arrested agents are facing charges under sections 418 (cheating with the knowledge that wrongful loss may ensue to a person whose interest offender is bound to protect), 419 (punishment for cheating by personation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), and 322 (punishment for murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
“They were sub-agents or agents of main human traffickers Chaudhry Zulqarnain, Talat Kiani, and Khalid Mirza. They belong to Kotli and Mirpur areas in AJK and live in Libya.
