The Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) immigration authorities on Saturday arrested three women at the Jinnah International Airport for their alleged involvement in human trafficking, immigration officials said.
The suspects were reportedly part of a gang accused of sending women to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the purpose of prostitution. According to FIA officials, the women were taken into custody during immigration clearance after their activities raised suspicion. Further investigation is under way to determine the extent of the network and identify other individuals involved in the trafficking operation.
The FIA said that during routine immigration clearance of passengers arriving from Saudi Arabia, officials identified certain passengers whose behaviour appeared suspicious. Upon detailed interviews, it was revealed that the passengers had travelled abroad through agents for work but later voluntarily engaged in prostitution with their consent under fixed payment arrangements. One passenger, Razia Zainab, wife of Muhammad Imran, disclosed that she had been contacted by an agent identified as Shaheen, a resident of Lahore, who arranged her travel to Saudi Arabia with the promise of employment at a beauty parlour with a monthly salary of PKR 150,000.
However, after reaching Saudi Arabia, she later engaged in prostitution with agreed payment terms. She remained there for about one month before Saudi police conducted a raid at the premises, arrested her, and after completion of her sentence she was deported to Pakistan.
In another incident, two passengers, Sonia, daughter of Iftikhar Ahmed, and Sidrah Bibi, daughter of Ahmed, stated that they had contacted an agent named Rashid through an acquaintance who promised them employment in Saudi Arabi against a salary of PKR 120,000 per month. After arrival in Saudi Arabia, they also voluntarily engaged in prostitution with fixed payments.
Later, Saudi police conducted a raid, arrested them, and after serving their jail terms, they were deported to Pakistan.
All the passengers have been referred to the FIA Anti-Human Trafficking Circle (AHTC) Karachi for investigation and to start legal action against the involved agents.
Separately, during routine immigration clearance at the airport, the FIA Immigration (Shift-B) detected several passengers involved in illegal migration, human smuggling and suspicious travel activities. A passenger, Rashid, son of Nazir Ahmed, deported from Iraq on an emergency passport with the remarks “Illegal/Overstay” was intercepted. During personal search, his original passport was recovered, which was found tampered with as multiple pages (14–32) were deliberately removed, indicating concealment of travel history.
Another passenger, Atif Rehman, son of Arif Khan, arriving from Turkey, disclosed that he had travelled abroad on a transit visa for Cyprus but absconded in Turkey and stayed illegally for about eight months before returning to Pakistan.
In separate cases, passengers Sadam Hussain from Sialkot, Rukhsar Ali from Peshawar and Hamad Rafique were deported from Turkey after attempting to enter or travel onward to Europe through illegal land routes via Iran with the assistance of human smuggling agents.
A passenger Umair Khan, son of M. Zubair Khan, arriving from Germany, admitted that he had illegally travelled from Pakistan to Iran and Turkey through land routes with the help of agents and later entered Italy illegally. Verification through IBMS record also confirmed that his legal departure from Pakistan could not be traced. All the passengers were detained and referred to the FIA Anti-Human Trafficking Circle (AHTC) for further investigations and to start legal action against the agents involved in human smuggling.
