08 October 2004	Friday	22 Shaban 1425

ISLAMABAD, Oct 7: The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has been fined £9,600 for having carried three passengers, including a woman, who claimed asylum on reaching London, sources told Dawn.

The sources said that on Sept 29, the passengers, Saima Khan, Sher Shah and Sher Afghan, boarded a PIA flight from Islamabad after having been cleared by the Pakistan immigration authorities.

When they landed at the Heathrow Airport, the British immigration authorities found them to be Afghan nationals when they applied for asylum. They were identified as Hamida Mohabat, Aga Mohammad Khan and Mohammad Shafiq Khan.

The sources added that the British authorities had fined the PIA £3,200 for each passenger for transporting them on fake documents. The FIA conducted an investigation into the case and is reported to have found two immigration personnel, an assistant director and a head-constable, involved in the matter.

The sources said that the head-constable managed to escape when he heard about the investigation. They said the Afghan family had procured the forged documents, including passports, from a travel agency in Islamabad and paid up to Rs1 million for the passports.

It is learnt that some immigration officials were making Rs600,000 for helping a person to go abroad on forged documents. PIA spokesman Mohammad Latif when contacted said that it was the duty of law-enforcement agencies, and not of an airline, to check travel documents of passengers.

"We collect photocopies of the documents but do not check whether these are fake or genuine," he said. Travel agents also are required to check the authenticity of documents because they provide service to passengers. Mr Latif said that the British authorities had fined the airline £2,000 per passenger. The total amount paid as fine, he claimed, was £6,000 and not £9,600.