26 June 2004	Saturday	07 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

LAHORE, June 25: In an 'unprecedented' move, the immigration authorities on Friday stopped 24 passengers from travelling to Cyprus by a Gulf Air flight despite having valid documents.

Sources said most of those denied a visit to Cyprus via Abu Dhabi had student visas. They were stopped on the assumption that they would disappear in Cyprus after expiry of their visas or sneak into another European country, they added.

They said the passengers were issued boarding cards by the airlines, but later the immigration authorities raised objections, though not related to their travel documents. The airlines reportedly resented the move.

The immigration officials normally offload a person for having fake documents and handed him\her over to the Federal Investigation Agency's passport cell for registration of a criminal case. However in this case, none of the passengers was handed over to the passport cell.

When contacted, immigration assistant director (arrival) Sheikh Riaz said the authorities did not offload the passengers. The Gulf Air stopped them from boarding the plane, as they did not have the return tickets and $1,000, which were mandatory for travelling to Cyprus.

Mr Riaz explained that it was easy to get a student or tourist visa for Cyprus. There was no embassy of Cyprus in the country to confirm the validity of their documents, he added.

The government had decided to take measures on the reports that most people, who visited the country on student and tourist visas, normally tried to sneak into other European countries.