Jawed Hamdani, aka Michael John Hamdani, was seeking a reward from the American and Canadian governments for his role in getting several people arrested on human trafficking charges, including at least 48 employees of Pakistan's domestic intelligence agency – the Federal Investigation Agency. But instead, he is expected to be deported to Pakistan, where his life could be seriously threatened by the human traffickers.

Hamdani, 47, a Pakistani who immigrated to Canada in 1996, was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police from his Brampton, Toronto home on charges of forging travel checks and other documents. He has been imprisoned at the Seneca County Jail in Ohio for the past 31 months.

In a phone call he made from Seneca prison to the Pakistan Post’s office in Toronto, Hamdani recalled that during his interrogation, a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who was only identified as Steve, told him that if he gave details of the network involved in human trafficking from Pakistan into Canada, his punishment would be commuted.

Hamdani also told the Post that he is appealing to the authorities to deport him to Canada – and not to Pakistan – because his wife and children live in Canada and are Canadian citizens.

He said he feared for his life in Pakistan, especially from a leading Pakistan human trafficker named Malik Basheer and some members of the Federal Investigation Agency.

Hamdani claimed that it was on his information that FBI, CIA and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had arrested several key members of Basheer's network, including his nephew, and 48 employees of the Federal Investigation Agency on human smuggling charges.

A Pakistani court, Hamdani said, had found Basheer’s nephew guilty and sentenced him to 14 years imprisonment.

Another Basheer’s nephew, Laeeq, who was based in Toronto, would allegedly look after the illegal business in Canada, Hamdani said, adding that Laeeq later disappeared and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police was never able to arrest him.

During his arrest, Hamdani said, he was made to call his contacts in Lahore, Pakistan, which resulted in critical information about a group of 19 illegal immigrants that was about to be transported to Canada and then smuggled into the United States. Using his contacts, he said he was able to get photographs of 11 of those Pakistanis who were to be smuggled into Canada.

But later, he claimed, the Canadian authorities got his picture, along with five of the 11 Pakistanis, published in Canada's leading dailies – including the Toronto Star and Globe and Mail – with the news that he wanted to bring the five men into Canada and then smuggle them into the United States for terrorism.

Hamdani said he strongly protested to the Canadian authorities, following the publication of the news, and asked them why he was subjected to such a treatment when he was working for them.

Canadian officials rejected his protests, Hamdani said, and told him that his information was wrong.

Canadian officials had identified the 11 Pakistanis as terrorist suspects who wanted to go to the United States. One of the men, whose picture was released as a terror suspect and who had supposedly arrived in Canada, was in fact living in Lahore, Pakistan, and was running a jewelry store there even on the day his picture was released,.

The world came to know the truth behind the Canadian claim after that jeweler’s interview was aired by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

Hamdani, however, admitted that he himself had worked for the human trafficking network of Malik Basheer for a long time. It was from his information, Hamdani said, that the British police arrested another Pakistani from the United Kingdom, identified as Tariq Butt, who was also a member of this network.

Later, the Canadian authorities withdrew their charges against Hamdani and handed him over to the U.S. authorities in December 2002.

In the United States, Hamdani faced charges including the forging of travelers checks and other documents. He was presented in a Brooklyn court on January 8, 2003, where he was sentenced to three years imprisonment. He was sent to Elton prison in Ohio to complete his sentence.

While at Elton prison, some Spanish inmates tried to kill Hamdani. He believed that the attempt on his life inside the prison could have been made at the behest of the Pakistani human smuggling network. He said he is not willing to go to Pakistan because dozens of people there ere arrested there on his information and who could threaten his life.

Hamdani's Canadian citizen wife lives with their four children in Toronto's Brampton neighborhood. They have three daughters, ages 21, 19 and 17, and a 20-year-old son.

The Hamdani family moved to Toronto in 1996. Hamdani said that a Canadian attorney named Deepak had claimed before the media that he represented Hamdani, which was not true as he had never picked Deepak as his attorney.

Hamdani, who drove a cab in New York for 16 years, lived in the Bronx. He told Pakistan Post that he had not eaten any thing for the past six days (interview date not mentioned) because of non-availability of Halal (Islamically sanctioned) food in the prison. He said he was subsisting on water.

Hamdani appealed to the U.S. government to either allow him to apply for political asylum or be deported to Canada but not to Pakistan.