ISLAMABAD: Special Judge Central-I Gujranwala Mohammad Naeem Shaikh, upon completion of the trial in the Libyan boat accident case, sentenced accused Shahzad Elahi to twenty years in jail and a fine of Rs. 1.4 million.
Accused Shahzad Elahi had received Rs. 2.3 million for sending the nephew of the complainant to Italy; however, the victim, Ahsan Iqbal, died in a Libyan boat accident.
Over three hundred Pakistani nationals, more than one hundred from Gujranwala alone, died in the accident.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Gujranwala, taking action against human traffickers, had apprehended 814 people, including ninety-three of those who were suspects in the tragedy.
The human traffickers first used the border routes of Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkiye for their illicit trade.
From those nations, they made their victims get to Turkiye and onwards to Greece.
Youths aspiring to migrate to Europe were enticed by human traffickers who collected between 2.5 to 3 million rupees per person. The smugglers told the youths that they would take them first to Libya by air, from where they would travel to Italy by boat.
The youths were made to embark on their journey to the Western country of Italy in a boat that had been filled with a number of people twice its capacity.
Libyan Boat Accident
The human traffickers had received hundreds of millions of rupees from them. The tragic accident occurred on June 14, and except for twelve people, all the Pakistanis who had been in the lower part of the vessel went missing.
