The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) immigration wing at Jinnah International Airport has foiled multiple illegal air travel attempts involving forged travel and employment documents.
According to an FIA statement issued on Sunday, five passengers were handed over to the Anti-Human Trafficking Circle (AHTC) Karachi for further investigation in connection with the separate incidents.
In the first operation, FIA officials intercepted four passengers — Muhammad Adnan Imam, Wahaj, Ibrahim and Syed Umar Abrar — who were travelling to Malaysia. Fake employment cards of the Digital Sky Hub Company and a forged invitation letter for the Malaysia IT Exhibition 2026 were recovered from them.
During the questioning, the passengers allegedly admitted that they intended to work in Malaysia despite travelling on visit visas. Evidence of financial transactions involving millions of rupees was also found, the FIA said.
An employment-related agreement for Malaysia was recovered from the passengers’ mobile phones, while further evidence allegedly linked to illegal recruitment activities was suspected to have been found on Imam’s laptop.
The four passengers were subsequently handed over to the AHTC Karachi for further investigations. In another operation, FIA officials intercepted a passenger identified as Qasim Ali who had arrived in Karachi from Saudi Arabia via Abu Dhabi.
According to the FIA, Qasim disclosed that an agent named Irfan had promised to send him to Portugal in exchange for Rs4 million. In Abu Dhabi, he was allegedly provided with a French passport bearing the name Hamza Ali and a Portugal boarding pass. He was intercepted while attempting to travel and subsequently sent back to Pakistan.
A further search at Karachi airport led to the recovery of a fake Italian visa sticker and a baggage tag bearing the name Hamza Ali, the FIA said.
The agency said investigations into human smuggling, forged travel documents, illegal immigration and overseas illegal employment networks were under way in both cases. Further arrests of facilitators and agents are expected in the case. The FIA said it would continue action against organised networks involved in such activities.
