Pak-run global smuggling rings rise in number
Pakistani nationals are running global smuggling rackets ranging from supplying missile parts to fake currencies to human trafficking.
The Spanish police recently busted a major global fake currency racket with the arrest of several Pakistani citizens who had been supplying 100 Euro notes worth $1.1 million across Europe and beyond.
The Pak gangsters made the banknotes by hand, using special inks, watermarks and different elements to hoodwink detection mechanisms. The gangsters were based in Naples, Rome and Barcelona. The fake notes were distributed in Italy, France, Greece and Spain. The police authorities in Spain, Italy and Greece were alerted last November when a large number of counterfeit notes were found circulating in Barcelona. The arrests were made at Barcelona airport and the city bus station when the distributors were found carrying 70,000 Euros in counterfeit notes.
The latest case involving Pakistanis in a global human trafficking racket was detected in Italy early this month. At least nine members of the gang were detained for smuggling migrants along the Balkan Road. The arrested were part of a criminal organisation engaged in bringing illegal migration along the Balkan route. The gangsters were also found to intimidate hapless victims of their thuggery. One of the victims was held in an apartment located in the centre of Siena as part of the gang’s bid to extort more money for his trip to Italy.
In January this year, the US Naval authorities had come upon another global smuggling ring involving Pakistanis. They were found to be smuggling high-tech missile parts from Iran to Yemen. A significant number of weapons parts were found from the dhow in which the smuggling was being carried out. Subsequent investigations found that the missile parts and other equipment was being shipped from an Iranian port and the dhow was moving towards Yemen from where the materials were to be transported to the Houthi rebels fighting the US maritime forces using the Red Sea.
Last month, a well-organised human trafficking ring of Pakistanis and other nationalities was disrupted in Cyprus. The criminal network facilitated illegal migration into the EU via sham marriages. Using fake marriage certificates, the gang helped immigrants to obtain residence permits from third countries which were used to travel to other European countries. The fake marriages took place in Cyprus.
In June last year, at least seven members of a global human trafficking ring were arrested after international hue and cry over the sinking of an overcrowded smuggling vessel off Greece resulting in missing of over 500 migrants, including Pakistanis. The ring, according to the police, was involved in smuggling Pakistanis into Europe. More than 30 Pakistanis involved in the global racket were subsequently arrested.
In 2021, a major global internet fraud ring was unearthed in Karachi, Pakistan when international investigators discovered “the biggest money laundering case in the history of Pakistan”. Karachi-based Digitonics Labs has been running over 200 fraudulent websites, selling fake USPTO trademark certificates.
The above incidents only are a tip of the iceberg. Pakistani-run transnational smuggling rackets are now a global phenomenon. A significant shift from printing and circulating fake INR to Euros; illegally importing nuclear parts for self use, to exporting from third country to a terrorist group; for possible use against USA.
