SIALKOT: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested six passengers at Sialkot International Airport who were allegedly trying to travel illegally to Italy via Qatar and Libya.
According to the FIA Gujranwala office, the suspects are residents of Gujranwala and Sialkot. They were carrying Qatar work permit visas, but investigations revealed their actual plan was to fly to Qatar, move onward to Libya, and then attempt to reach Italy by sea.
Officials said that this appears to be a new route being used for illegal migration to Europe. Each suspect reportedly paid an agent Rs 3.2 million to arrange the journey.
In a separate operation, the FIA Multan team arrested seven suspects from various cities across South Punjab for their involvement in human smuggling and visa fraud.
According to the agency, these individuals deceived citizens by promising overseas employment, collected large sums of money, and later failed to send them abroad or refund their payments.
FIA officials confirmed that further investigations are underway into both cases to identify other members of the smuggling network.
