As the Coast Guard has now concluded its operation, 40 missing Pakistanis in the Greek Coast Boat Tragedy can be presumed dead. Initially, the confirmed deaths consisted of five Pakistanis. They also included four from Pasrur of Punjab province, namely, Sufyan, Abid, Shabbir Akhtar, and Zain Ali. The addition of 35 missing persons takes the count to 40 presumed dead.
The FIA started action against the human traffickers under the directives of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Revealed the deputy director, of FIA Gujranwala office, announcing that six new cases were launched owing to requests of relatives of victims now. FIRs have been sealed for the protection of the identities of local facilitators involved in trafficking.
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Sources, however, claim that three of these cases were registered at both FIA’s Gujrat and Gujranwala circles. FIA officials reported that an agent named Hassan was apprehended in Phalia and this brought the total number of arrests in the Gujranwala circle to three, as well. Notably, 30 individuals from Gujranwala were aboard the ill-fated boat, 26 of whom were rescued from the sea.
In the last two years, at least 330 Pakistanis have died trying to undertake sea crossing. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered strict action against human trafficking and sought a detailed report from authorities on such incidents from the past year.