FIA offloads four passengers attempting to go abroad under guise of visit visas, Umrah

GUJRANWALA: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) immigration staff in Gujranwala on Monday foiled an attempt by four passengers to travel illegally to Europe under the guise of visit visas and Umrah.

According to FIA officials, the passengers — identified as Suleman Zulfiqar, Naeem Khan, Niaz Wali, and Qasim Anwar — were offloaded before departure.

Officials said that Suleman Zulfiqar, Naeem Khan, and Niaz Wali were scheduled to travel to Tajikistan on visit visas aboard flight FZ315.

Initial investigation revealed that the suspects planned to proceed from Tajikistan to Libya and then attempt to enter Europe illegally by sea.

The trio had reportedly paid human smugglers a total of Rs10 million for the arrangement.

Another passenger, Qasim Anwar, was set to travel to Saudi Arabia on Umrah visa aboard flight F3654.

Investigations found that he had been in contact with a local agent named Shani, based in Gujranwala.

 Anwar allegedly planned to use a fake resident card in Saudi Arabia to travel onward to Italy and had paid the agent Rs5.5 million.

All four suspects have been handed over to the FIA’s Anti-Human Trafficking Circle in Gujranwala for further legal action, said FIA Director Muhammad bin Ashraf.

Earlier, the FIA released its 2025 “Red Book” containing the names of 143 most-wanted human traffickers, including seven women, facing dozens of cases across the country.

The list also features a husband-and-wife duo accused of running the largest trafficking network, with 216 cases registered against them.

According to FIA, the suspects face hundreds of cases under multiple laws, including the Immigration Ordinance 1979, Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act 2018, the Pakistan Penal Code and others.