Suspicion of human smuggling leads to offloading of 30 passengers at Karachi airport

KARACHI: At least 30 passengers set to depart for different countries were offloaded from aircrafts on suspicion of human smuggling at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport late on Saturday night, said immigration authorities .

The immigration officials suspected that majority of the offloaded individuals could become a victim of human smuggling. They said most of them were shifted to the Anti-Human Smuggling Circle for further probe, while several others were granted permission to return home.

Officials reported that the offloaded passengers were questioned for various reasons.

Abid Ali, a passenger bound for Saudi Arabia, was flagged on the Integrated Border Management System (IBMS) list. Similarly, Salman Riaz, a public servant travelling to the Gulf on an employment visa, lacked the required no-objection certificate (NOC).

Several other passengers heading to Saudi Arabia — Aftab Ahmed, Mohammad Khalil, Mohammad Riaz, and Ahmed Khan — were found to have incomplete documents. Another passenger, Faiz, holding a visit visa, lacked sufficient funds for travel expenses and hotel booking.

Officials also suspected Umrah passengers Iqbal, Imran, Mujahid, another Imran, and Ijaz of being involved in human trafficking.

Meanwhile, a passenger travelling to Azerbaijan was offloaded on the suspicion of being linked to human smuggling operations in Europe.

Nine passengers — Fazal, Hussain, Najaf, Liaqat, Kashif, Anzal, Owais, Mohsin, and Shabbir — were also offloaded from a flight to Azerbaijan.

In another case, Oman-bound passenger Shaukat was found without sufficient funds in his bank account for travel expenses and hotel bookings. Babar Khalil and Hamza Javed, also traveling to Oman, were offloaded due to incomplete work visa documentation.

Records showed that Aminullah, another Oman-bound passenger, held two passports issued under his name.

Dubai-bound passenger Saira Bano failed to provide adequate details regarding her travel expenses, accommodation, and purpose of visit.

Furthermore, Nigerian nationals Daniel Saqib and Syed Bilal Hussain were travelling without work visas, while Tanzanian-bound passengers Sadaf Mustafa and Muhammad Ijaz lacked hotel bookings and sufficient travel funds.