PESHAWAR: A group of people from Swat have complained about a visa fraud in their region, claiming fraudulent travel agents have deprived more than 400 people of millions of rupees by falsely promising overseas employment.

They said that despite their complaints, authorities had yet to act against the “visa mafia”.

During a news conference here on Thursday, Adnan Bacha, a resident of Kota Barikot in Swat, along with other victims of those fraudulent visa agents, including Hazrat Khan, Riaz Ahmad Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Waqar Khan, said that taking advantage of high unemployment rate and the poor law and order situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the visa agents looted innocent people on the false pretext of providing employment abroad.

They accused certain travel agencies in Mingora and Swat of collecting huge sums of money from them and hundreds of others in the name of providing jobs in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries.

Mr Bacha said that despite paying millions of rupees, none of those people got the promised employment visas.

He said in a few cases, visas were issued but they later turned out to be visit ones, forcing individuals to return from abroad without getting any job.

“Some people from Swat were even declared illegal aliens in Gulf countries and faced arrest,” he said.

The residents insisted that the indifference of police and other authorities encouraged those travel agents to continue their illegal activities without any let or hindrance, so they amassed crores of rupees from innocent people in Swat and surrounding areas.

They said that large sums were transferred to those fraudulent visa agents through bank transactions, while those unfamiliar with banking procedures were asked to pay cash.

The residents said that all documentary evidence of the fraud was available.

They also claimed that several jirgas had approached the accused but instead of resolving the issue, the latter resorted to threats.

The residents urged the chief minister, interior minister, inspector general of police and senior officials of the Federal Investigation Agency to take immediate action against such travel agents and ensure the recovery of their hard-earned money.

They hoped that the government would provide justice to them by ensuring early return of the savings of their families.

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2025