Following the shipwrecks in Europe, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has started strict screening at all airports in the country to prevent potential illegal immigrants from reaching temporary destinations by air.
According to reports, the FIA ​​has offloaded 2,500 passengers at Lahore airport alone in the past month for having fake, suspicious, or incomplete documents, while some passengers traveling on original documents were even offloaded on suspicion of being illegal immigrants.
Most of the passengers were scheduled to depart for Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, Malaysia, Senegal, Ethiopia, Mauritania, Turkey, Qatar, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Kenya, Egypt and Libya.
The FIA ​​has identified these countries as transit points for illegal immigrants to travel to Europe or other developed countries, with the passengers mostly traveling to these countries on tour, tourism, Umrah, and student visas.
On the instructions of FIA Lahore chief Sarfaraz Khan Virk, the Lahore Airport administration is conducting strict screening of passengers and 2,501 passengers have been offloaded since January this year due to fake, suspicious, or incomplete documents.
FIA Chief said that a comprehensive review of the travel records of the passengers is being conducted, 8 passengers have been arrested on charges of using fake documents, 14 people involved in begging have been detained and the arrested persons have been handed over to the Anti-Human Trafficking Circle Lahore for further investigation.
He said that the FIA ​​also prevented 9 fugitive suspects wanted by the Punjab Police from fleeing abroad. The spokesperson said that 8,812 passengers were offloaded at Lahore Airport in 2024 due to fake, suspicious, or incomplete documents. He said that 79 passengers were arrested on charges of using fake documents and 75 other people involved in begging were also detained.
Similarly, the Punjab Police prevented 57 fugitive suspects wanted in serious cases from fleeing the country last year.
Sarfaraz Khan Virk said that the crackdown against human smugglers linked to the boat tragedies will continue. He said that operations against human smuggling networks have been intensified as the FIA ​​is committed to a zero-tolerance policy against this heinous crime.
Due to stringent screening at the country’s international airports, genuine passengers traveling with legal documents and visit visas from European, Central Asian, and Middle Eastern countries are also facing severe difficulties.
Tour operators have also urged the authorities concerned not to stop passengers with genuine visas as it is hurting their business. The FIA ​​recently dismissed 13 of its officers involved in the Greek boat accident in 2024 and stopped the promotions of 3 constables.
Similarly, in light of the investigation into the Greek boat accident that caused the deaths of several Pakistanis, 65 FIA personnel were blacklisted last month for posting in any immigration check post and anti-human trafficking circles in the country.
The FIA ​​had launched the operation after a boat carrying illegal immigrants sank near Greece in December last year. It is estimated that more than 80 Pakistanis drowned in the accident, of whom 36 were rescued while the rest were declared dead.
After the tragedy, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif ordered the authorities to take action against human traffickers and those who helped them. Since then, a crackdown has been launched against human traffickers across the country, resulting in the arrest of dozens of suspects.
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After taking review from the Pakistanis by the team of The Inquirer, people were glad about the decision as life is for once and nobody should be allowed to lose it just for a luxurious life, Instead of giving money to human traffickers people can start a small business within Pakistan and there is a lot of example in our country regarding the successful businessmen who started their business with spending little capital and today they are visiting all those countries to where people are losing their lives.
