KARACHI: A judicial magistrate on Saturday remanded 12 suspects in the custody of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in a case pertaining to providing fake educational documents to obtain US visas.

The FIA produced Nisaar Khan, Malik Muhammad Asfand Nisar, Huzaifa Malik, Umar Hayat, Zeeshan Ali, Syed Wasi Ahmad, Qurat-ul-Ain Fatima, Shahroz Babar, Aqib Afridi, Usama Imtiaz, Abdul Basit and Muhammad Furqan Ahmad before a judicial magistrate (South) and sought their custody for interrogation.

The magistrate handed them over to the investigating officer (IO) on five-day physical remand and directed the IO to produce them at next hearing along with a progress report.

The FIA stated that, based on a complaint from the US Consulate in Karachi, the suspects were intercepted for their involvement in providing fake or forged educational documents to secure US visas.

According to the FIR, an official at the US Consulate had sent a reference to the FIA, stating that the overseas criminal investigations unit at the US Consulate in Karachi had an open investigation against Nisaar Khan, allegedly the head of a delegation and students at the University of Lahore, for providing fraudulent documents and guidance to support the visa applications of eleven purported students from the university.

The FIA added that the suspects were arrested outside the US Consulate in Karachi and were booked under various provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code for forgery, fraud and other offences at the FIA anti-human trafficking circle police station.

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2025