KARACHI: Authorities in Pakistan’s seaside metropolis of Karachi urged the citizens to stay calm after a massive swarm of locusts flew over different parts of the city on Monday morning.
“The relevant departments have been alerted and there is no need to panic,” Sindh’s Minister for Agriculture, Ismail Rahoon, told Arab News, adding that locusts had not damaged any crops or plants. “This has happened for the second time since the creation of Pakistan.”
The locusts first entered District Malir of the city on Sunday. The area has plenty of agricultural land where vegetables are grown for Karachi’s largest market.
On Monday morning, social media users started sharing videos from District East, Shahrah-e-Faisal, National Stadium and Bahadurabad areas of the city where armies of locusts could be seen.
“It was a very frightening scene,” Asim Ali, a resident of Malir, told Arab News. “I have never seen locusts in such large numbers.”
However, officials said there was no need to panic.
“The locusts are migrating from summer-monsoon breeding zone to the winter-spring breeding zone of Balochistan’s coastal areas,” Muhammad Tariq Khan, Department of Plant Protection, Ministry of National Food Security and Research, told Arab News.
Desert locust flies during daytime and settle at night. Such migrations do not cause any damage since such movement is not in search for food, the official said, adding: “We are monitoring the situation. The relevant desert locust control teams are ready to intervene according to the technical guidelines, if required.”
Pakistan has surveyed an area of 550,000 hectares and controlled 110,000 hectares by ground and aerial spray in Balochistan, Sindh and Punjab since March 2019.
“During this period, the locusts were confined to the desert and were not allowed to attack the cultivated area,” he informed.
Experts say desert locusts prefer sandy soil with moisture and vegetation since such habitat help them breed and multiply. In Pakistan, desert locusts have two breeding seasons and regions: the winter-spring breeding zone of Balochistan between February to June; and the summer-monsoon breeding zone of Tharparkar, Nara and Cholistan deserts between June and November.
Authorities urge calm as locusts fly over Pakistan’s megacity
Authorities urge calm as locusts fly over Pakistan’s megacity
- Officials say this is the second time locusts have entered Karachi since the creation of Pakistan
- Say the insects did not damage crops or plants
Pakistan arrests suspect arriving from Cambodia amid crackdown on human smuggling
- Suspect worked at an “online fraud company” in Cambodia, later started smuggling people from Pakistan, says FIA
- Pakistan has intensified crackdown against human smugglers after hundreds of migrants drowned near Pylos in 2023
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Sunday said it had arrested a key suspect involved in smuggling humans who had arrived from Cambodia, alleging he was also part of an international fraud network.
The suspect, identified as Zainullah, was arrested by FIA officials when he arrived in the southern port city of Karachi from Cambodia.
Zainullah had traveled from Pakistan to Cambodia in September 2024, a press release issued by the agency said.
“He worked at an online fraud company in Cambodia and later became involved as an agent in recruiting individuals from Pakistan,” the FIA said.
The FIA said it recovered images of multiple individuals’ passports, payment receipts and bank transaction records after extracting data from Zainullah’s phone.
It said the suspect received money through personal bank accounts and a cryptocurrency account.
“The suspect has been handed over to the FIA Anti-Human Trafficking Circle, Karachi, for further legal proceedings,” the FIA said.
“Further investigation is underway.”
Pakistan intensified action against illegal migration in 2023 after hundreds of migrants, including 262 Pakistanis, drowned when an overcrowded vessel sank off the Greek town of Pylos, one of the deadliest boat disasters in the Mediterranean.
Authorities say they continue to target networks sending citizens abroad through dangerous routes, following heightened scrutiny at airports and a series of arrests involving forged documents.
Pakistan’s interior ministry said this week illegal migration to Europe has declined by 47 percent this year after its nationwide crackdown, saying that more than 1,700 human smugglers have been arrested in 2025.
