LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Wednesday deported six Vietnamese upon their arrival at the Allama Iqbal International Airport.

According to the FIA, they were deported due to suspicious documents they possessed.

“Hotel bookings of passengers arriving on visit visas were found to be fake. They were unaware of their intended destination. Mobile phones were checked on suspicion of links with scamming agents. All chats were found deleted from their phones. Only one travel record to Cambodia was found,” the FIA said.

The FIA believes that such individuals may be connected with the criminal syndicates operating in Southeast Asia to loot people through cyberspace.

Consultancy firm owner convicted

“Criminal syndicates operating in Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia are targeting Pakistanis with fake job offers, especially in the IT sector – call center and relevant jobs, promising high salaries.

However, after landing there, these Pakistanis are forced into illegal activities, including cyber and financial crimes. Those who resist face severe consequences, including violence and extortion from the victim’s family,” the FIA said.

SENTENCED: The owner of a prominent immigration consultancy was sentenced to a multiple years jail term, along with a fine on Wednesday after conviction in 12 cases of human smuggling and visa fraud.

The sentence in each case will run concurrently.

The Special Court Central-II Lahore sentenced accused Zulqarnain Asad, who is the owner of the Global Citizenship Solutions (GCS), was sentenced to 15 years rigorous imprisonment each in four cases and a total fine of Rs 4.9 million was imposed on him.

In other eight cases, the accused was sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment each and a total fine of Rs 9.1 million imposed.

“Strict punishments in visa fraud cases were made possible due to effective investigation and strong legal prosecution,” the FIA said and added more cases against Zulqarnain Asad were still under trial in courts.

Early this month Asad was sentenced for 15-year imprisonment each in four cases of visa fraud.

Meanwhile, the FIA arrested a passenger traveling on fake travel documents. Adnan was traveling to Malaysia.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2026