SWABI: Four youth, who are being held in Libya by a group, need Rs5.6 million to be paid to their captors for their safe release, the aggrieved families told Dawn here on Friday.

Aamir Hayat, Waleed Khan, Bilal Khan and Afzal Junaid, aged between 22 to 25 years, belong to Maneri Bala village.

Their family members claimed they had sold their land to finance their journey to Italy. They said they paid about Rs7.2 million to an agent, who assured to take the youth to Europe via Libya.

Saleh Hayat, a brother of Aamir Hayat, said: “We are not aware who was that agent, but we were lured and deceived with assurance that our relatives will reach Europe at any cost.”

However, he said when the youth reached the Libyan coast about three months ago they were held by the group and shifted to a so-called jail on the outskirts of Tripoli, the Libyan capital.

The families of the ill-fated youngsters said a few youths of the area had earlier succeeded to reach Europe, and the agent used that ‘success’ to attract the parents to pay according to his demand.

Saeedullah Jan, father of Bilal Khan, appealed to the Pakistani high commissioner in Libya to play his role in release of the four youngsters as they didn’t have enough money to get them freed from their captors.

They recalled that another four youth from Swabi, namely Haroon Khan, Uzair Khan, Shah Faisal and Naseem Khan, were burnt to death when their boat caught fire mid-sea in the first week of October when they set out on a journey to reach Italy.

Two weeks ago, only the body of Shah Faisal was brought here after great hardship and payment of huge money.

Meanwhile, Famid Khan of Pirtab village told Dawn that he had managed to get his son, Sohaib Khan, freed from his captors. He added he paid a total of Rs4.1 million on his son’s journey to Libya and back home.

Sohaib told Dawn that there were numerous groups, who had made their own jails, where they kept the people in tiny space, sometimes without food for days.

“In our jail, there were numerous people from different countries, and those who could pay according to their demand, were set free,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 31st, 2022