Greece boat tragedy: ‘Human traffickers to be brought to Pakistan via Interpol’

GUJRAT: Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Deputy Director Tariq Masood said on Monday that human traffickers residing in foreign countries will be brought to Pakistan via Interpol, ARY News reported.

Tariq Masood, while briefing media on the progress of probe after the Greece boat tragedy, said that 150 Pakistanis are missing in the incident. Out of 150 missing nationals, 115 belong to Gujrat, 30 from Mandi Bahauddin and one each from Hafizabad and Wazirabad.

He detailed that 11 human traffickers have been arrested so far and money laundering cases were lodged against them. Overall, 31 cases have been lodged against the suspects, he added.

READ: Tally of missing youth in Greece boat tragedy soared

“Six teams are working to arrest the human smugglers. Most prime suspects are residing in Libya. National identity cards and passports of suspected human traffickers have been blocked. Human traffickers in foreign countries will be brought to Pakistan via Interpol.”

He further said that DNA samples of 125 persons have been collected for identification purposes.

Earlier in the day, DIG Mirpur said that the tally of the youth missing in Greece boat tragedy has reached to 138 in the region.

DIG Mirpur Khalid Mehmood Chohan has said that the parents of 88 missing young men have contacted with police, while the data of other 50 missing persons in the boat incident, has been collected with the help of the community.

The number of the missing youth could further increase, he said.

“The relatives of several missing youth have avoided to contact with authorities,” the DIG said. He appealed people to cooperate with police.

“Parents of missing youth shall provide information, we will extend help to them,” he assured.

On Friday, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said in a statement in the National Assembly that there were at least 350 Pakistani victims on an overloaded boat that capsized and sank in open seas off Greece last week, adding that 82 bodies of those aboard the boat have so far been recovered and their identification process was underway with the help of the forensic and NADRA data.