Caught at Karachi airport after profiling revealed insufficient funds; agent network revealed during questioning
Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). PHOTO: FILE
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) offloaded 23 passengers at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport on Friday. An FIA spokesperson said the individuals were attempting to travel to Malaysia on visit visas with the intention of working illegally.
The passengers, travelling on flight D7-109, admitted during questioning that they planned to overstay and work illegally in Malaysia. They came from various areas, including Karachi, Lower Dir, Mardan, Swat, Bajaur, Bannu, Gujrat, and Peshawar.
Read: 66,154 air travellers offloaded this year, FIA tells NA body
Investigation revealed that the passengers were travelling through an agent, Muhammad Owais, who said the visas had been arranged by a passenger, Waseem Khan, via another agent named Stefan. Payments for the visas were made through bank transfers.
Immigration checks revealed that the passengers lacked sufficient funds and failed to provide the mandatory bank statements needed for Malaysian visit visas.
Read More: LHC declares passengers offloading without written reason illegal
The passengers were handed over to the FIA’s Anti-Human Trafficking Circle in Karachi for further verification and legal proceedings.
The FIA told a parliamentary panel this week that it has offloaded more than 66,000 passengers this year to prevent organised networks from facilitating illegal travel. Earlier this year, the Lahore High Court ruled that immigration officials cannot restrain passengers based solely on verbal orders, following a series of offloading incidents across the country.
