KARACHI: The Federal Investigation Agency on Friday offloaded 23 passengers at Jinnah International Airport after determining that they intended to travel to Malaysia on visit visas for the purpose of working illegally.
According to an FIA spokesperson, the passengers were travelling on flight D7-109 and admitted during initial questioning that they planned to overstay in Malaysia and seek unauthorized employment. The individuals belonged to various parts of the country, including Karachi, Lower Dir, Mardan, Swat, Bajaur, Bannu, Gujrat, and Peshawar.
The spokesperson said preliminary investigations showed that the group had arranged their travel through an agent identified as Muhammad Owais. During the inquiry, Owais stated that the visit visas had been arranged by one of the passengers, Waseem Khan, through another agent named Stefan. Payments for the visas were made through bank transfers, the FIA said.
Immigration officials also found that the passengers failed to meet key travel requirements. Checks revealed they did not possess sufficient funds and were unable to produce the mandatory bank statements required for Malaysian visit visas.
Following the offloading, the passengers were handed over to the FIA’s Anti Human Trafficking Circle in Karachi for further verification and legal action.
Earlier this week, the FIA informed a parliamentary panel that more than 66,000 passengers had been offloaded nationwide this year as part of efforts to disrupt organised networks involved in facilitating illegal travel abroad. The issue has drawn legal scrutiny in recent months.
