LAHORE, Sept 2: The third batch of 30 Pakistanis being deported from Italy is expected to reach here in a few days.

This was stated by Federal Investigation Agency deputy director (immigration) Chaudhry Tanvir here on Tuesday.

Talking to Dawn, he said that according to the Italian embassy 160 Pakistanis were scheduled to be deported. Of them, 130 had been deported from Italy so far.

Meanwhile, the second batch of 50 Pakistanis deported from Italy arrived here by a chartered plane on Tuesday morning.

Sources said the airport immigration authorities have a poor coordination with the Italian embassy. “The authorities came to know about the arrival of the chartered plane on Tuesday at the last minute.”

All deported men were arrested while reportedly trying to enter Italy illegally. They were accompanied by as many Italian policemen for security reasons.

The FIA officials took them into custody for interrogation and released them after a few hours. The officials claimed that no deported man had left Pakistan on invalid travel documents.

“Almost all went to Libya on genuine travel documents from Karachi and Islamabad and had tried to enter Italy through ferries by paying hundreds and thousands of rupees to local travel agents.”

The deported men, aged between 25 to 40, belong to the Punjab and Azad Kashmir. Of them 12 hail from Rawalpindi, 14 from Gujrat, 11 from Mandi Bahauddin, two each from Sialkot, Jhelum, Gujranwala and two from Kotli (Azad Kashmir).