The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Immigration has foiled an attempt by a passenger to travel to Spain using an allegedly forged French Schengen visa at Islamabad International Airport, reported the 24NewsHD TV channel on Wednesday.
According to the FIA spokesperson, the passenger, who was travelling on Qatar Airways flight QR-615, was stopped during secondary profiling after immigration officials found the French Schengen visa sticker affixed to the passport to be suspicious.
During the initial investigation, the passenger allegedly disclosed that he had obtained the fake visa sticker through a friend, identified as Shamoun, in Saudi Arabia. He said he had paid 550 Saudi riyals as an advance and was due to pay a further 45,000 Saudi riyals upon reaching his destination.
The FIA said an examination of the passenger's mobile phone revealed that he had been communicating via WhatsApp with a man identified as Ghulam Shabbir regarding European visa clearance.
The passenger was offloaded from the flight and handed over to the FIA's Anti-Human Trafficking Circle, Islamabad, for further legal action.
Reporter: Tayyab Saif