PESHAWAR: The Federal Investigation Agency on Sunday arrested an Afghan national for travelling on forged documents at the Bacha Khan International Airport here.

Officials said that Omat Shah, 29, was travelling from Peshawar to Dubai via Emirates Airline EK-637 on his way to Austria. However, immigration officials counterchecked his documents and found his passport to be forged as there were no ultraviolet light features on the passport pages and the numbering was done with a simple needle unlike the one officially done by laser passport numbering machine.

An FIA official said that the Afghan national had been into custody. He said that the Afghan was in contact with an agent in Austria, adding that the accused was later handed over to the agency’s anti-human trafficking circle, Peshawar.

It was not for the first time that Afghan nationals were arrested for travelling on forged documents, as on February 12 FIA had offloaded five Afghans, including two children, from a flight for having fake travel documents.

They were travelling to the UK via Dubai from the Peshawar airport on Emirates Airline flight EK-637. All the accused were later handed over to the FIA’s anti-human trafficking circle.

On February 15, the agency had arrested Subhanullah, an Afghan national, at the Bacha Khan International Airport for travelling on forged documents.

Subhanullah was travelling from Peshawar to Jeddah via Saudi Airline’s flight SV-797, the official said, adding that on suspicion, his documents were checked, which turned out to be fake. The accused was handed over to the FIA’s anti-human trafficking wing, and a case was registered against him.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2023