Islamabad, April 3 – Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has confirmed the arrest of a notorious human trafficker, whose name is on the FIA's "red book," who was involved in the June 2023 Greek boat capsize, local media reported on Friday. The accused was previously serving as a constable in Pakistan's Elite Force.
In January, the arrested trafficker had resisted and attacked a FIA team during a raid conducted in Majra Shumali village of Pakistan's Gujrat district. Police had booked him for attempted murder and other charges, according to Pakistan's leading daily, Dawn.
According to a senior FIA official, the most-wanted human trafficker, Waqas Ali, also known as Waqas Butt, was arrested by the FIA's Composite Circle in Gujrat. The accused is listed in the 2025 "red book" and is a proclaimed offender involved in several FIA cases.
Dawn quoted the FIA official as saying that the accused was directly connected to the 2023 shipwreck in Libya. He allegedly extorted around 3 million Pakistani Rupees (PKR) from each of the affected families by promising to send them to Greece through illegal sea routes from Libya. The accused is a former Elite Force constable who was dismissed from service in 2023 by the Gujrat police.
Last month, the FIA offloaded two passengers from a plane at the Multan International Airport after they were allegedly attempting to use Umrah visas to enter Europe.
A FIA spokesperson said that immigration staff took action at Multan airport during routine screening of outbound passengers. Two Pakistani nationals - Sikander Alam and Noor Islam - were heading to Saudi Arabia for performing Umrah. However, initial investigations raised suspicions, prompting officials to refer them to secondary screening for detailed profiling, Dawn reported.
During further investigation, the officials found Moroccan visas affixed to the passports of Alam and Islam. After questioning, Sikander Alam and Noor Islam said that their actual destination was Spain instead of Saudi Arabia.
The FIA officials said that the latest case aligns with recent alerts issued by FIA headquarters about the rising cases in which people try to use Umrah visas as a cover to enter Europe illegally through Morocco.
After the findings, both passengers were offloaded from the plane and taken to the FIA Composite Circle in Multan for further investigation.