Father with sons stopped at Lahore Airport in anti-human smuggling operation

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Immigration Wing has foiled an alleged human smuggling attempt at Lahore's airport by offloading three passengers, including a father and his two sons, the 24NewsHD TV channel reported on Thursday.

According to an FIA Lahore Zone spokesperson, the passengers were scheduled to travel from Lahore to Baku on flight PA468 when they were stopped during immigration clearance and referred to a verification counter after officials found their travel circumstances suspicious.

During the verification process, immigration authorities recovered Albanian visas and digital evidence relating to Serbia. 

Officials also found material on the passengers' mobile phones indicating contact with suspected travel agents believed to be involved in human smuggling operations.

According to FIA officials, the passengers admitted that an agent had arranged a route through Serbia and Azerbaijan as part of a plan to smuggle them into Italy.

The passengers further disclosed that the agent had agreed to facilitate their illegal travel to Italy for Rs4 million per person. 

They told investigators that Rs3.4 million per passenger had already been paid to the agent.

Following the inquiry, FIA Immigration Lahore handed the passengers over to the Anti-Human Trafficking Circle (AHTC) Lahore for further investigation and legal proceedings.

Authorities said efforts were under way to identify and apprehend those involved in the alleged smuggling network.

Reporter: Irfan Malik