LAHORE, July 19: The Federal Investigation Agency claimed on Monday to have busted a four-member gang allegedly involved in human smuggling and preparation of fake passports and visas.

Identified as Amjad Butt, Dilawar Ali, Rana Zulfiqar and Murtaza Ahmad, the gangsters belonged to Gujranwala and Gujrat where they had been doing the illegal business for years.

"The suspects used to smuggle people to middle-eastern countries," FIA's Assistant-Director Arif Bokhari told Dawn. He said the gang members had been minting money from innocent people, as most of them were deported shortly after landing in any country.

Most of their clients were either deported or arrested and jailed because the gang members had been sending them on fake documents, the official said. Explaining their modus operandi, the official said they bought passport, mainly from those who had visited Saudi Arabia for Umra or Haj and did not want to visit again, and used it after changing picture.

Mr Bokhari claimed that the agency had seized 30 fake passports, 500 fake visas to Libya, 1,000 blank papers for preparing fake ID cards, 550 stickers of the Pakistan government to be pasted on passports, and 70 stamps of consulate.

Besides, he said, gadgets and machines for preparing fake documents were recovered from the places where the gang had been working. He said the arrested men had been booked under the Immigration Ordinance and Passport Act, and some sections of the PPC.