ISLAMABAD, May 8: A team of Swiss investigators has arrived in Islamabad to join a probe into the Swiss Embassy visa scam, Dawn learnt on Monday. “Now it would become easy for the local investigation agency to interrogate some officials of the mission allegedly involved in the scandal,” a source in the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) said.

The source said the Swiss team would stay here till all the culprits involved in the case were exposed. He disclosed that the FIA had arrested another travel agent, brining the number of people arrested so far in the case to five, including Ashir Francis, an assistant visa officer in the embassy, and four travel agents. They were allegedly involved in tampering with passports of visa seekers and smuggling humans out of Pakistan.

Another accused, Maj (retd) Ajmal, has been declared absconder by a local court and he is reported to have escaped abroad. The FIA sought assistance of the Interpol which has issued red notice against Maj (retd) Ajmal.

In a statement sent to some newspapers, accused Ajmal has claimed that some Swiss nationals were also involved in the scam.

FIA official Tariq Khosa said Pakistani and Swiss agencies would jointly investigate into the case to shatter the network.

He said that earlier two officials of a Swiss intelligence agency had visited Pakistan and shared information with local agencies including the FIA.