- FIA sought extradition of prime suspect.
- Jajja escaped from Sialkot jail after incident.
- Key suspect was in hiding in Gilgit Baltistan.
GUJRANWALA: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Sunday claimed to have arrested the main suspect behind last year’s boat capsize off Greece, which claimed the lives of at least 40 Pakistanis.
Three boats carrying 175 illegal migrants of different nationalities including Pakistanis capsized off the Greek coast. A report by the Pakistan Embassy in Athens confirmed that at least 40 Pakistani nationals perished in the tragedy.
The Pak Embassy report further stated that three boats — which capsized in Greek territorial waters — had departed from Libya’s Tobruk port. A total of 45 people were on board the first vessel, of which six were Pakistanis.
Whereas, the second boat included five Pakistani citizens out of the total 47 passengers. The third boat was carrying 83 people including 76 Pakistanis, three Bangladeshis, two Egyptians and two Sudanese nationals. A total of 39 people were rescued from the third vessel of which 36 were Pakistanis.
Following the incident, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered nationwide operations against human smuggling networks and FIA officials, who are involved in facilitating human traffickers.
Since then, as many as 35 FIA officials have been dismissed along with a change in the top post after now-former director general Ahmad Ishaq Jahangir was removed from his office over the reportedly slow pace of investigations in the boat capsizing incidents and large scale illegal migration.
Apart from the government measures, Lahore’s Jamia Naeemia had also issued a religious edict against the use of illegal means to travel abroad from Pakistan.
The religious decree, issued by Dr Mufti Raghib Hussain Naeemi and Mufti Imran Hanfi, said that using illegal means to go abroad is not only unlawful but also violates Shariah.
In a statement issued today, the FIA said the suspect, Usman Jajja, was operating an international human smuggling racket. At the time of the Greek incident, Jajja was imprisoned in Sialkot jail over a scuffle.
The FIA had informed the police about the extradition of the prime suspect following the incident, However, Jajja escaped from jail after getting bail in the case and was hiding in Gilgit Baltistan.
In a similar incident in January 2025, a boat carrying irregular migrants from the African nation of Mauritania to Spain capsized. 50 migrants, including 44 Pakistanis, lost their lives.
Although, as many as 36 Pakistani citizens were rescued, the rest remain missing which, as per a report from the Pakistani Embassy, should be presumed dead.
The ill-fated boat departed from Mauritania on January 2 with 86 migrants on board. Moroccan authorities reported that 66 of the passengers were Pakistani nationals and noted that it had rescued 36 people after the accident.
Driven by socio-economic disparity and the allure of a better lifestyle abroad, illegal migration, despite its risks, continues to draw people to spend a fortune in paying human traffickers to reach Europe.
