FIA foils beggars’ fraudulent Umrah trip

LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Friday stopped a group of suspected beggars from traveling to Saudi Arabia under the pretext of Umrah at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport.

A series of similar attempts were thwarted by the FIA in recent weeks.

Earlier, the matter reached the Senate, where the Standing Committee of Overseas Pakistanis revealed that a staggering 90 per cent of professional beggars apprehended in Middle Eastern and other countries were of Pakistani origin.

Pakistani nationals also exhibit a disproportionate involvement in minor offences, such as pickpocketing, around the revered Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia, the committee was told.

In this latest incident, two men and two women were offloaded by FIA immigration officials and subsequently handed over to the police for further investigation.

The alleged beggars confessed to visiting Iran and Iraq previously for begging and disclosed that Pakistani travel agents facilitated their journeys.

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They said that the agents would drop them in densely populated areas of Saudi Arabia, facilitating their money collection through begging.

The FIA spokesman stated that cases have been registered against the accused and the agents.