GUJRAT: The Federal Investigation Agency has arrested Saeed Abbas, a former assistant director of the Gujrat regional passport office, in connection with a case of issuing passports to a man and his three children against fake credentials.

Official sources said the arrest had been made a few days ago and now the official was in the district jail on judicial remand.

Two junior staffers — data entry operator Zaheer Sial and clerk Shakoor Haider — had already been arrested along with Qaiser Goraya of Safdarabad, Nankana Sahib, said to be a close friend of main suspect Abid Hussain who was now abroad.

Gujrat FIA circle Deputy Director Ghulam Sarwar Warraich told Dawn an inquiry into the issuance of fake registration documents by the Nadra was also being done.

The FIA had registered a case on the complaint of Khadija Bhatti of Nankana Sahib that her former husband, Abid Hussain, had fled the country along with her three sons aged 2, 5 and 7 years after getting passports from the Gujrat passport office.

Since the case between the former couple is pending in the Lahore High Court, the fleeing of Abid along with his children to Baku, a capital of a Central Asian State, prompted the court to direct the FIA to take a legal action.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2022