FIA arrests ‘most wanted’ human trafficker linked with Libya shipwreck

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Friday arrested a ‘most wanted’ human smuggler, who the authorities said had been involved in smuggling people to Libya, including those who had died in a shipwreck earlier this year, ARY News reported.

“The most wanted human trafficker – identified as Javed Hussain – involved in the Libya boat accident has been arrested by the FIA’s Gujrat circle,” the anti-crime agency said in a statement.

According to the agency, the arrested suspect – who was wanted in seven cases in Gujrat – was also named in the Red Book of Most Wanted Human Traffickers. The accused went into hiding after the Greece boat accident.

He was the “front man” of another most wanted human trafficker, Hamza Sunyara, who operates from Libya.

“The suspect was running an international human trafficking network from Gujrat and was involved in illegally sending innocent citizens from Libya to Europe,” the FIA said.

There have been two notable incidents of boats drowning off the coast of Libya in the Mediterranean Sea this year in which several Pakistanis had lost their lives. The first incident took place in February and the other in April.

Later, an Italy-bound fishing trawler reportedly carrying at least 800 people — including hundreds of Pakistanis — capsized off Greece.

The then-Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed authorities concerned to investigate the human trafficking that led to the tragic incident of migrants shipwreck near Greece with several Pakistani nationals onboard.

The premier directed concerned authorities for an immediate crackdown against agents involved in the heinous crime of human trafficking and called for bringing them to justice.