350 alleged human traffickers arrested in Nimroz: Police

ZARANJ (Pajhwok): Police in southwestern Nimroz province have arrested 350 alleged human traffickers in the past one month who transferred people illegally to Iran.

Human trafficking victims who have bitter experience of traveling on difficult routes have urged authorities to stop illegal migration and human trafficking.

Some deportees said that despite the issuance of a decree banning human trafficking, many people are still smuggled into Iran from northwestern Nimroz province border daily.

2,000 people cross Silk Road into Iran or return to country daily

Maulvi Abdullah Riaz, head of the Nimroz Refugees and Repatriation Department, told Pajhwok Afghan News on average 1,500 to 2,000 people cross the Silk Road border to Iran or return to the country daily.

Without providing exact statistics, he said some of these commuters return and some go to Iran legally or illegally.

Bitter stories of people who migrated illegally

Khan Murad, 28, a resident of Zaranj city, who crossed the border from Iran, told Pajhwok if he had known that he could face bad fate, he never attempted to emigrate illegally.

Earlier, he worked in a bakery, but his income was not good and he was facing financial problems.

“I had a bakery with little earning, my friends told me that there is a lot of work in Iran, I sold my household and bakery belongings and contacted a smuggler, my family and I began a dangerous journey”.

The smuggler had told him Iran was four hours away and he could easily transport them, he added.

His eyes welled up and said: “It wasn’t as the smuggler had said; we traveled for five days and nights in dry and scorching desert, over dirt hills in temperatures of over 50 degrees, sometimes on foot and sometimes in a vehicle, they had packed 30 people into a small car. It was very cruel; I lost three of my children along the way, they died of thirst and extreme heat”.

He gave up on going to Iran after losing his children and returned and asked Islamic Emirate to stop human trafficking, because where his children died, many people, including elderly and youths are also dying.

But it is not only Khan Murad who has had the bitter experience of migration. Ali Ahmad Barekzai, 30, is another person who has been deported.

Recently, Barekzai who was forcibly deported from Silk Road border said he had smuggled his family into Iran from Nimroz six months ago.

According to him, that his wife and three children are now in Iran and he was unaware of their conditions.

“I was forced to choose path of illegal immigration due to poverty, I was government employee, but when I lost my job, I couldn’t find anything and was forced to sell my house on advice of friend and walk for seven days and nights in 50-degree heat to reach Iran, now I have been expelled empty-handed and have lost my house”: he added with disappointed eyes and trouble face.

Barekzai suffer from his situation and fate of himself and his family, he could not solve the problem.

“I worked in steel mill for six months, I received my wages for three months, but the wages of the next three months was delayed and I was told that it will be paid together at once, when I and other workers protested for our wages, the factory owner handed us over to police”.

Salam Hashemi, 45, a resident of Kabul, is another deportee without his family. Also tells a bitter story of illegal immigration to Iran.

“Illegal immigration is a step between life and death, I crossed the dry plains of Nimroz and dangerous valleys of mountains in scorching weather, there were 34 of us in a car. When we arrived in Tehran, we felt like we had just been born”: Hashimi added.

According to him, he faced ugly treatment, torture, and humiliation from some people and police, and was ultimately expelled from that country empty-handed.

When asked why he went to Iran, he explained: “I went this way out of necessity, economic problems and lack of work forced me, but illegal immigration was the hardest decision of my life”.

He has eight children and trying to relocate his family from Iran.

Smugglers use various deceptions to take people on dangerous journeys: Social Expert

Abdul Basir Azimi, a social affairs expert in Nimroz, told Pajhwok: “Nimroz province has been known for many years as one of the main routes for human trafficking to Iran”.

Recently, the rate of human trafficking has surged, resulting in many casualties at Iran’s borders, he added.

“Smugglers use different deceptions to lure people dangerous journeys, while not providing them with any accurate information about the hash condition of journey, danger, hunger and death”.

Azimi urged to prevent human trafficking from Afghanistan to other countries.

Hundreds involved in human trafficking arrested

Police Spokesman Maulvi Gul Mohammad Qudrat said: “Police have been committed to implementing the decree of Amir Al-Momineen in preventing human trafficking and will not allow any smuggler to traffic and sell human beings.”

The security officials are trying to arrest such individuals and bring them to justice, he added.

“The Anti-Criminal Crimes Department has actually arrested 350 human traffickers in the province last month.”

According to spokesman, the arrested suspect’s files have been handed over to judicial organs.

Hz/nh