PESHAWAR: Three held for running illegal travel agencies
By Our Correspondent
PESHAWAR, July 30: Three people belonging to two travel agencies were arrested on the charges of running their business without obtaining permission from the government, an official told Dawn on Sunday.
The passport circle of the Federal Investigation Agency raided the offices of New Arabia International Travels and King Travel agencies at Azam Tower on University Road on Saturday and arrested Abdur Rehman, owner of the New Arabian International Travels and its manager Nauroz Khan, Inspector Zahid Dawar said.
The FIA recovered six green passports having foreign countries’ visas from the office of the agency and other documents to establish that the travel agency was running the business without the permission of the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC).
The FIA also raided King Travel in the same building and arrested manager of the agency Abdul Qayyum.
Mr Dawar said that the owner, Haji Aman Khan, could not be arrested as he was also dealing in the same business in Bannu’s Cantt Market.
But certainly, the owner of the King Travels would be arrested in coming days, the FIA official said.
Mr Dawar said that the raiding team also recovered four Pakistani passports and other documents exposing that the agency was dealing in the selling of international airlines’ tickets without the approval of the PTDC.
“In the law, it is must for every travel agency to get license from the PTDC for establishing travel agency office,” the official explained.
The accused were charged under 14 Travel Agency Act and 6 Passport Act, he added.
Meanwhile, the three accused were presented before a magistrate on official duty on Sunday and secured their one day physical remand.
The inspector said that the FIA had launched crackdown against the illegal travel and recruitment agencies in the provincial metropolis to curb human trafficking.
