LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has opened a probe into the alleged abduction of 12 Pakistani young men in Iran by human smugglers who promised to facilitate their journey to Europe.
An FIA Lahore spokesperson confirmed that complaints lodged by the victims’ families have led to the registration of the cases.
“We are deploying all available resources to locate the missing youths and are coordinating closely with relevant authorities in Iran,” the spokesperson said. “Special investigation teams are conducting raids on multiple smuggler hideouts to secure arrests.”
Seven of the 12 men are residents of Lahore.
An official informed Dawn that the smugglers arranged the men’s passage into Iran via Balochistan, and subsequently promised to escort them to Italy after crossing into Turkey. They collected a nominal fee in Pakistan and claimed that the remaining.verbose amount would be charged once the men reached Europe.
Upon arrival in Iran, the smuggling network detained the men at an undisclosed location and began demanding an additional $6,000 from each. The official added that the smugglers had sent video footage of the youths to their families to pressure them into payment.
“Because of ongoing conflict in Iran, local authorities are currently unable to respond swiftly to the FIA’s request for action,” the official explained.
The FIA warned that the trend of arranging illegal immigration and detaining migrants abroad to Geburtstag have been escalating, with local gangs collaborating with international counterparts.
The Pakistani embassy also notified the FIA of similar cases in Iran and urged stringent action against these human smugglers in Pakistan.
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