RAWALPINDI: Humiliated and smarting over the ten Afghan nationals caught travelling on fake Pakistani passports at a London airport in September, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has decided to introduce new passport-reading technology at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport.

Director FIA Immigration Inam Ghani told Dawn that the technology, which will include Biometric machines, will be integrated with the FIA’s passport and immigration database to enable its immigration staff detect “the most sophisticated fake passports”.

That would improve the working of the FIA staff at the passport control desk at the BBI airport.

The Biometric system verified the identity of a person on the basis of his or her finger prints.

FIA Immigration’s deputy director Mohibullah Mandukhel and assistant director Matiullah, who were manning the desk when the 10 Afghan nationals took a PIA flight to London, were transferred after the scandal of their fraudulent travel documents unfolded on their landing at Heathrow airport.

Three other FIA staff members were suspended and are being investigated on the suspicion that they collaborated in the fraud.

A Faisalabad resident Mohsin Raza allegedly purchased the air tickets from a travel agent of Lala Musa and a PIA employee Khurram Shahzad arranged the aircraft boarding cards for the Afghans.

They and an FIA suspect Shahzad Gul, who had put the exit stamps on the Afghans’ passports, had secured pre-arrest bails.

“Unless the Lahore High Court cancels the bails of all the suspects involved in the trafficking of the Afghans, it will be difficult for the FIA to proceed further with its investigations against its officers,” said FIA director Inam Ghani.

“Unless all of the four people suspected to be involved in the trafficking of Afghan nationals to the UK are arrested after their pre-arrest bails are cancelled by the Lahore High Court, it would be difficult for the FIA investigators to proceed further and pin-point the other officials involved in the scam,” director FIA Inam Ghani told Dawn.

Interestingly, preliminary investigations found that Khurram Shahzad had issued the boarding cards without the ten Afghan passengers reporting to the PIA counter.

FIA was said to be facing difficulties in taking help from the footage of the Close Circuit Television

cameras installed in the International Departure Lounge of the Islamabad airport because they are controlled by the Airport Security Force exclusively for security purpose.

Now, the airport management has decided to install additional CCTV cameras.

Published in Dawn, October 25th , 2014