A four-member Pakistani inquiry team has left for Morocco to investigate the tragic boat accident in which dozens of Pakistani nationals died while three cases have been registered in Gujranwala and Gujrat in this regard, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Saturday.
Quoting its sources, the channel reported that the team comprised officials of the Ministry of Interior, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
They informed that the FIA had also assigned link officers based abroad the task to act against international human smugglers with the assistance of Interpol and local agencies.
The team would also access the Pakistanis who survived this tragedy, sources said, adding that in the light of their statements, the noose would be tightened around their facilitators back in Pakistan.
They also informed that the FIA DG had given directives that action be taken against agents in Rawalpindi, Gujranwala and Gujrat circles.
Besides that, as per special instructions issued to the FIA staff deputed at both large and small airports of the country, all suspicious persons would be screened prior to their departure for Dubai and other destinations, popular with tourists.
Mother of two human smugglers arrested
Meanwhile, the mother of two human smugglers was arrested from Gujrat.
The FIA has said that Ghulam Fatima is a partner in crime with her sons namely Khawar and Shehzad and was used to received payments from the customers.
Three cases registered
Similarly, three cases, one in Gujranwala circle and two in Gujrat circle, have also been registered.
In Gujranwala, cases have been registered against smugglers Asghar Sindhi and Osama alias Rana Usman on the complaint of Shabnam Bibi.
In Gujrat, a case was registered against Fahad Gujjar in connection with the deaths of Abu Bakr and Ali Raza.
In a tragic incident, a boat carrying 80 migrants on its way to Spain capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Morocco.
Over 40 Pakistanis who were in the boat were reportedly among the dead.
According to the migrant rights group, at least 50 migrants may have drowned in the incident.
Moroccan authorities reportedly managed to rescue 36 people a day earlier from a boat that had left Mauritania on January 2 with 86 migrants, including 66 Pakistanis.
Reporters Tayyab Saif and Zahid Iqbal Rana