Court approves FIA's search warrant plea for Sarim Burney Trust

A local court in Karachi Thursday approved Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) plea to issue search warrant for Sarim Burney Trust in the ‘human trafficking case’, ARY News reported.

Sarim Burney appeared before the court in today’s hearing via video link. The court of Judicial Magistrate East took up the case.

At the outset of the hearing, the FIA team stated that they want to record the statements of trusties of Sarim Burney Trust and pleaded to approve the plea for issuance of search warrant of the trust.

The plea was approved by the court and the hearing was adjourned until July 25.

Burney was taken into custody on June 5 after he landed at the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi following his US visit.

FIR

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) registered first information report (FIR) against rights activist Sarim Burney for allegedly trafficking newborn babies to United States (US).

In the FIR, the investigation agency booked the rights activist for ‘trafficking’ a newborn baby – identified as Haya – to the US. Haya, who according to FIA was the last girl trafficked to US, was allegedly bought from her parents for Rs1 million.

Sarim Burney trafficked 20 newborns to the US in the past year on pretext of adoption. The FIA claimed that 15 of the trafficked children were girls.

The FIA, in a statement, said that the records of the allegedly trafficked children were provided by the Pakistan embassy. Citing the Trust documents, the agency said Burney’s wife was also among the beneficiaries.

According to the FIA, Haya’s parents are extremely poor, and their statements have been recorded. Further cases related to human trafficking and money laundering will be registered against Burney, the agency said.