The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Immigration wing on Wednesday foiled an organized human smuggling attempt at Allama Iqbal International Airport by offloading three passengers,including a father and his two sons. According to the FIA spokesperson,the passengers were scheduled to travel from Lahore to Baku on flight PA-468.During immigration clearance,they were declared suspicious and referred to the verification counter for further scrutiny.

During verification,FIA officials recovered Albanian visas and digital evidence related to Serbia.The passengers' mobile phones also contained evidence of communication with suspected travel agents involved in human smuggling. Upon intense questioning,the passengers admitted that an agent had arranged their illegal journey to Italy through the Serbia-Azerbaijan route.

They disclosed that the agent had agreed to smuggle each passenger to Italy for a hefty sum for Rs 4 million,Out of the agreed amount, Rs 3.4 million per passenger had already been paid to the network. The FIA Immigration authorities handed over the passengers to the Anti-Human Trafficking Circle (AHTC) Lahore, for further legal action and investigation.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)