Iranian border officials have arrested 45 Pakistan nationals who had trespassed into Iran and deported them back to their country on Monday. Iran’s officials handed over 45 persons to Pakistan’s border officials who had crossed into the country in hope to illegally emigrate to Europe for economic reasons. “The deportees were intending to illegally emigrate to Greece and other European countries via Iran,” Pakistan’s border officials said. “Those deported from Iran have been handed over to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for investigation,” border authorities said.

“Most of the deportees belong to Punjab province,” officials added. The issue of illegal immigrants has highlighted on global level with recent boat sinking incident near the coast of Greece, in which several Pakistani nationals have reported died. Pakistan is observing a day of mourning today over the deaths of its nationals in the boat tragedy. At least 78 people were drowned when the ill-fated boat with reportedly 400 to 750 people onboard sank in the Mediterranean Sea near the Greek coast. Meanwhile, some 104 people were rescued and sent to Kalamata, Greece, as per to the latest media reports. On Sunday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced to observe mourning day on Monday (today) and constituted a four-member high-level committee to probe into the death of dozens of Pakistanis in the tragedy.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP