PESHAWAR, Sept 30: The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has installed image-record, Iris Recognition Machine (IRM) at its Takhta Baig repatriation centre, Khyber Agency to prevent the re-entry of Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

The UN refugee agency, after installing the machine here on Monday, started recording the images of home going Afghan refugees to stop the entry of recycle refugees.

The UNHCR officials said that maintaining images of returning refugees would be helpful to detect recyclers and fake refugees who applied for voluntary repatriation centre.

An official said the IRM would function on trial basis at Takhta Baig, a major repatriation centre in the region and expected 100 per cent results. The official hoped that the installation of IRM would discourage recyclers.

Officials said the UN agency was planning to install more IRMs at its other stations including Kabul (Afghanistan) to prevent cheating.

According to the UNHCR internal report, its verification teams have detected about 25,000 Afghan families (250,000 individuals) who sneaked back into Pakistan through different unfrequented routes. These displaced families re-appear before the UN teams at various repatriation centres in Pakistan to get monetary benefits.  

The UN refugee agency gives monetary assistance, tents and food items  to refugees who register themselves  for  voluntary repatriation.