GUJRAT: Two suspects involved in human trafficking were sentenced to 10-year rigorous imprisonment (RI) and a fine of Rs0.5 million each in a case of illegal immigrants in Gujranwala on Thursday.

Judge special court central Gujranwala (1) Muhammad Naeem Sheikh announced his verdict in a case lodged on Sept 7, 2023 against the two suspects with Federal Investigation Agency’s Gujranwala circle.

Both the suspects - 22-year-old Muhammad Zubair of Do Moria Pull Lahore and 24-year-old Hamza Khalid of Chaki Wali Gujranwala - have been handed down the imprisonment and a fine under section 18 of immigrants ordinance 1979.

As per the court verdict, in case of non-payment of fine, the convicts will have to undergo at least six-year additional imprisonment.

The convicted persons were sent to Gujranwala district jail after the court hearing.

Meanwhile, the FIA claimed to have arrested at least three human traffickers from Gujranwala district in as many cases lodged against them.

A spokesman for Gujranwala FIA said the human traffickers include Tahir Mehmood, Qamar Ilahi and Muhammad Shabeer who had received the cash amounts from the complainants to send them to Portugal, Albania and Muscat.

He said despite receiving huge amounts, the suspects did not honour their commitment to the respective clients.

On the other hand, the FIA Gujranwala Zone has been organising training sessions for its officials on how to trace and investigate the illegal money laundering from Pakistan for the last couple of weeks.

Some female investigation officers are also among the participants in these sessions being held on a regular basis in Gujranwala zonal headquarter of FIA for the last couple of weeks.

Gujranwala region FIA director Abdul Qadir Qamar told Dawn that during these training sessions, the officers were being briefed about the the introduction and definition of money laundering, different stages of money laundering, over-invoicing under-invoicing and benami account etc.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2024