Gujranwala: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested 12 passengers attempting to travel illegally to Europe.

According to the FIA Director, the Immigration Cell conducted an operation at Sialkot Airport, during which the passengers were offloaded and taken into custody.

He added that the suspects had planned to travel from Uganda to Libya and then proceed illegally to Europe.

Director FIA said the suspects had visas to Uganda on the passport and they were in contact with agents, the accused belonged to Gujranwala, Hafizabad, Sialkot and Sheikhupura.

According to the Director FIA, the accused included residents of Okara and Pakpattan. Their agents will also be arrested after identifying the accused.

Earlier, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had arrested four suspects involved in the Morocco boat tragedy and in cases of torture and hostage-taking of Pakistani citizens abroad.

The FIA Gujranwala Zone carried out the operation and arrested three human traffickers among four accused, identified as Umar Hayat, Muhammad Sufyan, Muhammad Nauman, and Muhammad Usman. The suspects were apprehended from different areas of Hafizabad and Gujrat.

The unvestigations revealed that the accused lured citizens with promises of overseas employment and extorted millions of rupees.

Umar Hayat was directly involved in the Morocco boat accident. He took Rs. 8 million from a citizen named Ali Hassan, promising him a job in France, and attempted to send him to Europe via sea. The boat capsized, and the victim went missing.