LAHORE: Eight Chinese nationals, including a woman, and four of their local facilitators were arrested on Monday on charges of women trafficking, fraud and forgery, as the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) extended the scope of their investigation into Pakistani girls` traf ficking to China.

It emerged that over 90 Pakistani women, many of them belonging to under privileged Christian families, have already been trafficked after theyweretrappedintomarriagebythe Chinese gang.

So f ar the government has not taken its embassy in Beijing on board in this matter though the authorities may take up the matter with China after the completion of the ongoing investigation.

The FIA swung into action on reports that some Chinese nationals had been allegedly involved in sexual exploitation and organ selling of the Pakistani girls they took along with them as brides to China. L ast week the FIA arrested two such Chinese bridegrooms while contracting marriage with Pakistani girls in Faisalabad.

On Monday, an FIA team raided two houses in a neighbourhood near Allama Iqbal International Airport where they arrested seven Chinesemen and a woman (suspected ringleader) along with their four local accomplices.

During the raids the FIA team also rescued four Pakistani brides who were later handed over to their families. `We have arrested eight Chinese nationals for their alleged involvement in traf ficking Pakistani girls to China, Punjab FIA Director Dr Tariq Rustam Chohan told Dawn.

`Following the arrest of two Chinese in Faisalabad last week, we`d extended the scope of our investigation and busted this gang whose sole purpose was to lure the girls, mostly Christians, here for their marriage to Chinese nationals,` he said.

During interrogation, the officer said, it was established that the girls were sexually exploited over there.

About the modus operandi of the gang, Dr Chohan said it would target poor f amilies, mostly Christians, in different cities of Punjab. `The gang would bear all expenses of the marriage and also give cash and gif ts to the bride`s family.

`After marriage, the brides were shifted to the residence of the ringleader [Candice] in Lahore where they were taught Chinese and meanwhile their marriage documents were prepared before leaving for China, he said.

The FIA officer said the gang hadalso got the girls tested for HIV before their marriage.

Gang active for past one year In reply to a question as how many girls had been trafficked to China under this `marriage-scam`, the FIA director said: `So far we have come to know of 90 or so cases. This is an ongoing investigation as some families of the victims have also contacted us and told us what had happened to their girls in China.

He said this figure might increase as such gangs had been operating for quite some time. `The gang has been active here for the past one year,` he added.

The FIA registered a case against the suspects under Secdon 3/4 of TraffickinginPersonOrdinance,2018, and under Sections 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The Chinese ring leader and the four local suspects were identified as Candice, Zahid Masih (pastor), Kashif Nawaz (Chinese language instructor), Sunil Masih and Qaisar Mahmood Bhatti (matchmakers), respectively.

Mushtaq Masih, the father of one of the trafficked Pakistani girls, said: `The gang members had lured my family to marry off my girl to a Chinese Christian man.