The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has identified 890 government employees in Balochistan who were suspected of altering the official data to change record of their ages in order to delay retirement, sources told DawnNews on Friday.

The cases emerged during an inquiry launched by NAB against workers who allegedly got their ages changed in the official record to continue receiving perks and privileges despite being overage, well-placed sources in the Bureau said.

The employees ranging from grade one (the lowest in provincial governments' service structure) to grade 21 were found involved in tampering with the record, a source said, adding that the employees inflicted a loss worth billions of rupees to the national exchequer.

Among the 890 cases, nearly 100 belong to officers of grades 17 to 21 of various provincial departments.

The illegality was traced in education, health services, general administration, police and other provincial departments.

NAB sources said they had discovered the record tampering cases after thoroughly scanning the record of past seven years of almost all provincial departments.

The employees allegedly managed to alter the record with the support and involvement of some officials of the accountant general Balochistan's office, the sources said.

Arrests in the cases are expected within the next few days.

A meeting held under the chairmanship of NAB Director General Irfan Mangi on Friday decided to thoroughly investigate the scam and bring the responsible persons to book, the sources said.