GUJRAT: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) offloaded at least 20 passengers, including a woman, from different international flights at the Sialkot International Airport during the last 24 hours.

A senior FIA official said many of the offloaded passengers were traveling to Middle Eastern countries, including Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Oman and UAE, and Africa but initial investigation of their travel documents suggested that they had designs to further proceed towards Europe.

He said two passengers, Yasir Ali and Sidra Khan, were departing for Oman when they were offloaded over issues with their passport numbers.

Another passenger, Asim Fareed, was departing for Bahrain on a visit visa but he was offloaded due to suspicions about the purpose of the visit and low profile.

Ahmer Gull, Mohsin Shahbaz and Habib were departing Saudi Arabia for Umrah but they were offloaded for travelling alone, having no ‘Umrah package’ or funds. Mujahid Hussain who was leaving for Greece was offloaded over missing documents.

Shaukat Ali and Manzoor were going to Somaliland but they were offloaded due to no hotel booking and inadequate funds.

Awais, Afzal and Tayyab Raza were departing for Iraq for pilgrimage but they were offloaded due to low profile and no hotel booking. Zahid Pervaiz was departing to Greece on fake documents.

The offloaded passengers have been handed over to anti human-trafficking cell of the FIA Gujranwala for further investigation.

FIA Gujranwala Director Abdul Qadir Qamar said efforts were underway to completely stop the travel of potential illegal immigrants, at least from the Sialkot airport. He claimed that the ratio of illegal immigrants to Europe and the rest of the world had been brought to the lowest due to the strict monitoring and scanning of the passengers.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2024