GUJRAT: The immigration authorities of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Monday offloaded a passenger from a Saudi Arabia-bound flight, after a Canadian passport of an Afghan national was found in his hand-carried luggage at the Sialkot International Airport.
An FIA official told Dawn an immigration official detected a passenger, who allegedly wanted to go to Canada after reaching Saudi Arabia in the guise of an Umrah pilgrim.
He said that the passenger, Junaid Ali, was apparently traveling to Saudi Arabia for Umrah by flight No EK619.
However, during the immigration process, the FIA official developed suspicion and referred the passenger for further scrutiny. Upon questioning, the passenger failed to provide satisfactory answers regarding his Umrah visit.
The suspect wanted to reach Canada illegally in the garb of Umrah pilgrim
Consequently, a thorough search of the passenger’s hand-carried luggage was conducted.
During the search, the officials recovered a Canadian passport (No R101344SW), concealed carefully in a diary. The Canadian passport bore the name of an Afghan national.
During interrogation, the suspect disclosed that in February 2026, his maternal uncle, Awais Bajwa, a resident of Sialkot, currently residing in Canada, allegedly struck a deal with two agents -- Qamar and Shaukat -- both residing in Canada, to arrange travel documents for him.
As per FIA officials, Junaid sent Rs15 million to Awais Bajwa through hundi to make payment to the agents.
Later, they said, a man, Asad, arrived in the country from Canada via Flight PK745 and handed over a “diary” and bank cards to Junaid, instructing him to keep these with him during his travel to Saudi Arabia.
They said that the suspect had planned to get rid of his Pakistani documents as soon as he reached the transit destination and later get entry in Canada with “original travel documents.”
The suspect was offloaded and handed over to Gujranwala FIA zone for further legal action.
The FIA is also taking action against other suspects involved in the plan.
Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2026
