- The FIA asked for the extradition of the first suspect.
- Jajja escaped from Sialkot prison after the incident.
- The key suspect was to hide from Gilgit Baltistan.
Gujranwala: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) said on Sunday that it had arrested the main suspect behind last year’s boat will chand Greece, which has cost the life of at least 40 Pakistanis.
Three boats carrying 175 illegal migrants of different nationalities, including the Pakistanis, capsized the Greek coast. A report by the Pakistan Embassy in Athens confirmed that at least 40 Pakistani nationals died in the tragedy.
The Pak Embassy report also declared that three boats – which would capsize in Greek territorial waters – had left the port of Tobruk in Libya. A total of 45 people were aboard the first ship, including six Pakistanis.
While the second boat included five Pakistani citizens out of the total of 47 passengers. The third boat was carrying 83 people, including 76 Pakistani, three Bangladeshs, two Egyptians and two Sudanese nationals. In total, 39 people were saved from the third ship, including 36 Pakistanis.
After the incident, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered national operations against human smuggling networks and FIA officials, which are involved in the facilitation of human traffickers.
Since then, up to 35 FIA officials have been rejected with a change in the highest position after the director general to now train, Ahmad Ishaq Jahangir, was withdrawn from his office during the rhythm of investigations that would have been slow in the incidents of Chantinggage and illegal large -scale migration.
In addition to government measures, Jamia Naemia de Lahore also published a religious edict against the use of illegal means to travel abroad from Pakistan.
The religious decree, issued by Dr. Mufti Raghib Hussain Naemimi and Mufti Imran Hanfi, said that the use of illegal means to go abroad is not only illegal but also violates Sharia law.
In a statement published today, the FIA said that the suspect, Usman Jajja, exploited an international human smuggling racket. At the time of the Greek incident, Jajja was imprisoned in Sialkot prison for a fight.
The FIA had informed the extradition police of the first suspect following the incident, however, Jajja escaped from prison after obtaining a deposit in the case and hid at 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, up to 36 Pakistani citizens have been rescued, the rest remains missing, which, according to a report by the Pakistani Embassy, should be presumed dead.
The unhappy boat left Mauritania on January 2 with 86 migrants on board. Moroccan authorities said 66 of the passengers were Pakistani nationals and noted that he had saved 36 people after the accident.
Driven by socio-economic disparity and the attraction of a better style of life abroad, illegal migration, despite its risks, continues to make people to spend a fortune to pay for human traffickers to reach Europe.