RAWALPINDI, July 16: A batch of 78 Pakistani deportees arrived at Islamabad airport from Spain on Sunday.

Immigration authorities said a chartered Boeing 777 with 78 Pakistani detainees guarded by 123 police officials onboard landed here at around 7:30am.

Assistant Director Immigration Omer Hayat said the deportees, 80 per cent of whom belonged to Gujrat, were arrested by the Spanish police when the ferry they were travelling in ran out of fuel close to the port. Later, they were deported on emergency passports.

On reaching Islamabad airport, the deportees were handed over to the Federal Investigation Agency personnel who shifted all of them to the passport cell for registration of cases against them as well as the recruiting agents.

Mr Hayat said the deportees would later be shifted to their respective districts and the FIA would launch a hunt for those involved in sending these people abroad without legal documents.

It is pertinent to mention that more than 2,000 Pakistanis have been deported from the US alone since 9/11 terror attacks. The last batch of 57 Pakistani deportees from the US arrived in Islamabad on May 18.