The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was informed on Wednesday about the theft of thousands of passports from passport offices across the country.

In a meeting of Subcommittee IV of the PAC, chaired by Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, Passports Director General Mustafa Qazi revealed that thousands of passports had been stolen from 25 passport offices across the country “in different years.”

“All passports in these cases were blocked,” Qazi said. “They have not been reviewed, nor will they be.”

Audit authorities said in the meeting that 32,600 passports were stolen from passport offices in Abbottabad and elsewhere.

“This is a very worrying matter,” Chaudhry said. “Under the current circumstances, these stolen passports could be misused.”

The Passports DG said, “The Ministry of Interior arrested the foreigners who illegally went to Saudi Arabia from Pakistan. Riyadh has deported Afghan citizens from there.”

Qazi added that after the incident, the passport system will be completely digitised, and auditing authorities noted that a cyber-audit of the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) was conducted two years ago.

“Now it has become very difficult to produce fake documents,” DG Qazi said.

The subcommittee instructed DG Qazi to submit an inquiry report.