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An Australian man who allegedly abandoned his wife and baby in Pakistan after convincin them to go on a holiday has been charged with human trafficking.
Mughees Wazir, 45, became the focus of a federal investigation in February after his wife filed a report alleging she had been left overseas without any documentation.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) will allege the man convinced his wife and one-year-old child to travel with him to Pakistan in August last year.
When they arrived, he allegedly unlawfully took the child’s passport and abandoned the pair at the airport before returning to Australia on his own.
He then allegedly cancelled his wife’s Australian visa and kept their child’s passport.
When his wife arrived back in Australia in February she contacted the AFP, who, along with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, flew the child home.
The man was arrested at a home in Austral, in Sydney’s southwest, on Wednesday and charged with human trafficking offences.
He’s facing charges of trafficking a person from Australia by using deception, which carries a maximum penalty of 12 years in prison.
Australian Federal Police officers arrested the 45-year-old man in Sydney on Wednesday
The man is led away by detectives after being charged with human trafficking
The man was set to face Liverpool Local Court on Thursday.
In September, another man was hit with similar charges.
He was accused of convincing his wife and children to fly to Pakistan with him after being told they would be visiting family members.
He too left them and returned to Australia with their passports and visas.
