ISLAMABAD: More than a hundred Chinese engineers and support staff arrived in Islamabad from Urumqi on Friday morning in a special flight after being kept in isolation for 58 days to avoid contracting the dreaded coronavirus which China has largely managed to contain in the last couple of days.
Despite the disease’s outbreak in Pakistan, China’s Gezhouba Group sent 131 professionals to continue working on infrastructure and energy projects under the multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the company’s public relation’s officer in Islamabad confirmed to Arab News.
He added that 28 more Chinese workers were expected to arrive in Islamabad Friday evening.
“The CPEC staff arrived at 9 a.m. today carrying the Pakistani and Chinese flags and raising slogans to display their commitment to the project despite the situation they faced back home or the unfolding situation in Pakistan,” Gezhouba’s Mustafa Kamal told Arab News.
“They were thoroughly examined before travel. They were also screened upon arrival by National Institute of Health officials and will be kept at an isolation facility in sector F-6/1 (of Islamabad) between 14 and 20 days. We have medical staff there and best available equipment from China, and the workers will undergo virus tests again before resuming their duties at project sites,” he added.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office and Ministry of Planning offered no comment when reached by Arab News.
According to Kamal, however, his company had apprised the Foreign Office and other relevant government departments of the workers’ arrival.
“The number of Chinese nationals was also reported to the Foreign Office,” he said, adding that all health and safety measures would be applied as the workers perform their duties, and a person with any disease symptoms would be immediately shifted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences.
Chinese CPEC workers arrive in Pakistan despite virus threat
https://arab.news/8r2rn
Chinese CPEC workers arrive in Pakistan despite virus threat
- 131 Chinese reached Islamabad Friday morning to work on the corridor projects, 28 more to join
- Will be kept at an isolation facility in Islamabad for 2-3 weeks, China’s Gezhouba Group official says
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.
