A special court in Gujranwala has sentenced two accused involved in the 2023 Libya boat tragedy to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment each, along with fines of Rs 1.4 million per person, 24NewsHD TV reported on Wednesday.
According to details, the verdict was announced by the Special Judge, Central Gujranwala, in case number 222/2023, one of the key proceedings arising from the Libya boat incident.
The case was lodged by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) under sections of the Prevention of Smuggling of Migrants Act, 2018, and the Emigration Ordinance, 1979.
The court found the accused, Nadeem Aslam and Muhammad Aslam, guilty of human smuggling and other related offences.
A third suspect, Muhammad Mumtaz, was convicted earlier in the same case.
Under the Immigration Ordinance, both convicts were awarded 20 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 800,000, while under the Smuggling of Migrants Act, they received an additional 20 years’ imprisonment and a Rs 2 million fine.
The FIA’s spokesperson said the convicts had attempted to send a citizen, Allah Ditta, illegally from Libya to Italy in exchange for Rs 2.5 million.
The victim went missing following the tragic boat accident in 2023.
Earlier, another co-accused, Muhammad Mumtaz, had already been sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 1.4 million in the same case.
According to the FIA, the convicts were among the most wanted suspects of 2023 and had already been sentenced to 40 years of imprisonment and fined Rs 2.8 million by the court in another case (No. 203/23).