A judicial magistrate in Lahore has granted four days of physical remand to Talha Shahzaib, the prime accused in the Greece boat tragedy. The decision came after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) launched a massive crackdown against human traffickers, leading to the arrest of 12 individuals involved in sending local youths to Libya for onward travel to Europe, following Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s order. On Tuesday, FIA officials presented Talha Shahzaib before Magistrate Ghulam Murtaza Virk, seeking a seven-day physical remand for further interrogation. The officials emphasized that the accused had facilitated the illegal transportation of citizens to Europe, and it was imperative to apprehend him to recover the citizens’ Rs3.5 million.

They argued that a seven-day physical remand was necessary to gather evidence. After considering all the arguments, the court rejected the request for a seven-day physical remand and approved a four-day physical remand instead. As many as 14 Pakistani human smugglers are involved in the Greece boat accident and nine of them have been nabbed by the law enforcement agencies but five human smugglers from the Gujarat district have not been arrested.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP