FIA foils illegal Europe travel bid at Sialkot Airport, four passengers offloaded

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Immigration, Gujranwala, Friday foiled an attempt to illegally travel to Europe under the cover of fake travel documents and visit visas during a major operation at Sialkot International Airport, offloading four passengers.

According to an FIA spokesperson, the offloaded passengers were identified as Muhammad Asad, Nadeem, Sufyan Arshad and Qaiser Farooq, all hailing from Gujranwala and Sialkot districts.

Initial investigations revealed that Muhammad Asad and Nadeem were travelling to Indonesia on visit visas through flight FZ338. However, they were allegedly planning to proceed to Italy illegally via sea. The passengers were found to be in contact with an agent based in Karachi, who had arranged to send them to Europe through the Libyan sea route. The deal was reportedly settled for a total amount of Rs 4 million.

Another passenger, Sufyan Arshad, was travelling to Turkey on a work visa through flight FZ338. During scrutiny, FIA officials found his passport contained a fake Turkish work visa, which he had allegedly obtained from an agent for Rs 1.6 million.

Meanwhile, Qaiser Farooq was travelling to Turkey on a visit visa through flight FZ316. According to the FIA travel record system, he had travelled to Iran in 2023, but there was no record of his return to Pakistan, raising suspicion during immigration clearance.

The FIA spokesperson said all four passengers were later shifted to the Composite Circle Gujranwala for further legal action and for the identification and arrest of the agent involved.