PESHAWAR: Six more National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) officials were arrested on Thursday on charges of issuing fake Computerised National Identity Cards (CNIC) to Afghan refugees.

The arrest was made by the Anti-Corruption Cell of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Peshawar.

The arrested officials were charged with the crime after their bail before arrest was rejected by the Anti-Corruption Special Judge, Yahya Zahid Gilani.

They were posted in NADRA’s Hangu office and it was alleged that they were a part of a ring that used to issue fake CNICs on huge payments.

The investigating officer (IO) of the case, Amjad Ali, told Dawn.com that after the latest arrest of officials, who were mostly posted in Hangu NADRA office, the total number of accused arrested in the case has now increased to nine.

Furthermore, the IO clarified that previously “three officials were arrested in the same case on Feb 19 from Hangu and were being interrogated,” adding that the number of officials arrested had been misreported as four.

The NADRA officials arrested from the court premises on Thursday include Yasir Shafiq, Iftikhar Ali, M Zubair, Faraz Anwar, Zahir and Malik Fayaz, according to the officials,.

Previously, the FIA had arrested Irshad Ali, Muhammad Imtiaz, Sajidur Rehman and Irfan.

However, the IO clarified that Irfan had not been arrested during the Feb 19 crackdown.

The officials were allegedly involved in preparing fake CNICs on payments of large amounts of money to Afghan refugees and an inquiry was in progress against them since 2009, said the FIA’s anti-corruption officials.

The IO said that upon the completion of the probe, a complete challan of the case would be presented in court to frame charges against the accused officials before their trial began.