Quetta, June 03: Iran on Monday handed over to the Pakistani border force 170 Pakistani nationals caught for illegally entering into Iran and Turkey in search of jobs in Europe, officials said. They said 80 of them were arrested by Turkish authorities when they were trying to sneak in without legal documents while 90 others were arrested by the Iranian government over the past 10 days. The Pakistanis, handed over to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials at the Taftan check post on Pakistan-Iran border, have been taken into custody, FIA director Akbar Baloch said.
He said the detainees, mostly youth, would be produced in a court to decide their fate. They had illegally crossed into Iran to go to European countries via Turkey. The ill-fated youth had paid large amounts of money to human traffickers to get jobs in Europe, Baloch said.
"We have arrested 15 agents who were involved in transporting people illegally into Iran and further, but their network is very strong spreading over Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Greece," he added.
Iranian authorities have handed over 931 illegal immigrants this year, Baloch said, adding that it was impossible to check all illegal immigrant activity along the 900 km long border between Pakistan and Iran. Bureau Report