RAWALPINDI: The immigration staff of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) detained six passengers bound for Saudi Arabia on Umrah visas and recovered ‘fake’ European visas from their luggage at an immigration check at Islamabad International Airport.

According to the authorities, the six passengers were detained when they were undergoing immigration checks as they were travelling to Saudi Arabia on Umrah visa. On suspicion, the FIA staff asked for baggage search that led to the recovery of fake visas of Europe from their possession.

The six suspects detained by the FIA were identified as Tanveer Khalid, Rizwan Ali, Usman Ali, Tasawur Azim, Mazhar Abbas and Yasir Iqbal, who belong to Gujranwala, Gujarat and the Kotli area of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

According to the authorities, the suspects revealed during initial questioning that they were attempting to further proceed to Europe via Saudi Arabia on the basis of those visas.

They claimed that they had spent huge sums to obtain the visas from various travel agents. All the suspects were shifted to the anti-human trafficking circle of Islamabad for identification of the agents and further legal action.

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2024