ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities arrested four alleged human smugglers on Wednesday for their involvement in last month’s Greece shipwreck tragedy, the Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) said in a statement.
Pakistan has tightened the noose around human smuggling rings in the country after last month’s shipwreck off the coast of Greece claimed the lives of hundreds of Pakistanis. At least 750 illegal migrants, mostly Pakistanis, Syrians, and Egyptians, were aboard a trawler that capsized near Greece’s Peloponnese peninsula on June 14.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed stern action would be taken against all those involved in the accident. Last week, the FIA said it had arrested a key suspect named Saleem Sunyara from Gujrat, claiming that he was involved in the Greece shipwreck tragedy.
“Four human smugglers involved in the Greece shipwreck accident have been arrested,” a statement by the FIA’s spokesperson said. “The suspects were arrested from Gujrat, Kharian, and Mandi Bahauddin.”
The FIA said the suspects had minted millions off Pakistanis who were looking to escape to Europe for a better life. “Cases against the suspects were registered in the Gujrat FIA anti-human trafficking circle,” the agency said. “The suspects were in hiding after the Greece ship accident took place.”
Modern scientific methods were used to arrest the suspects, the FIA said, adding that they were being interrogated.
Young men, primarily from eastern Punjab and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, often use a route through Iran, Libya, Turkiye, and Greece to enter Europe.
