The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Immigration Department intercepted 23 passengers at the Jinnah International Airport who were illegally attempting to travel to Malaysia for employment.
According to the FIA, the passengers were offloaded from their flight after it was discovered that they were in contact with various agents and had planned to go into hiding upon reaching Malaysia.
The passengers admitted that they intended to use visit visas to secure employment abroad.
They hailed from different areas including Karachi, Lower Dir, Mardan, Swat, Bajaur, Bannu, Gujrat and Peshawar.
During immigration profiling, officials noted that the passengers had insufficient funds and were unable to demonstrate the required amount for visit visa expenses.
They also had not submitted the mandatory bank statements necessary for obtaining Malaysian visit visas.
The group was reportedly travelling under the guidance of an agent named Mohammad Owais.
During investigations, Owais revealed that a passenger, Wasim Khan, had arranged the visas through an agent named Stefan, and payments were made via bank transfers.
All passengers were offloaded and handed over to the FIA Anti-Human Trafficking Circle in Karachi for further legal action.
Earlier, FIA officials said that thousands of Pakistanis have been deported from various countries around the world for begging.
Briefing the National Assembly Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Rights, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Director General said that so far this year, 51,000 Pakistanis have been offloaded or deported from different countries. Of these, 24,000 were deported from Saudi Arabia for begging, while 6,000 were sent back by the United Arab Emirates and 2,500 by Azerbaijan, he said.
The FIA chief said that strict action was taken against people attempting to reach Europe under the guise of performing Umrah, adding that passengers who lacked documentary proof for travel to Europe were offloaded at airports.
The committee was informed that 24,000 Pakistanis travelled to Cambodia this year, of whom 12,000 have yet to return. Similarly, out of 4,000 people who travelled to Myanmar on tourist visas, 2,500 did not return.
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