KARACHI: At least 30 passengers bound for various countries were taken off planes at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport late on Saturday night on suspicion of human trafficking, immigration officials said.
Immigration officials suspect that the majority of those offloaded may be victims of human trafficking. He said most of them have been transferred to the Anti-Human Trafficking Circle for further investigation, while several have been allowed to return home.
Offloaded passengers were interrogated for various reasons, officials said.
Abid Ali, a passenger bound for Saudi Arabia, was added to the Integrated Border Management System (IBMS) list. Similarly, government employee Salman Riaz, who traveled to the Gulf on a work visa, did not have the required No Objection Certificate (NOC).
Several other passengers bound for Saudi Arabia – Aftab Ahmed, Muhammad Khalil, Muhammad Riaz, and Ahmed Khan – were found to have incomplete documents. Another passenger, Faiz, who has a visit visa, lacked sufficient funds to cover travel expenses and hotel bookings.
The authorities also suspected Umrah passengers Iqbal, Imran, Mujahid, another Imran and Ijaz of involvement in human trafficking.
Meanwhile, a passenger bound for Azerbaijan was disembarked on suspicion of being linked to human trafficking operations in Europe.
Nine passengers – Fazal, Hussain, Najaf, Liaquat, Kashif, Anzal, Owais, Mohsin and Shabbir were also kicked off the Azerbaijan-bound flight.
In another case, Shaukat, a traveler to Oman, did not have enough money in his bank account to cover travel expenses and hotel bookings. Babar Khalil and Hamza Javed were also offloaded due to incomplete work visa documents to Oman.
Another Omani-bound passenger, Aminullah, had two passports issued in his name, records show.
Saira Bano, a passenger to Dubai, failed to provide adequate details regarding her travel expenses, accommodation and purpose of visit.
Additionally, Nigerian nationals Daniyal Saqib and Syed Bilal Hussain were traveling without work visas, while Tanzanian travelers Sadaf Mustafa and Muhammad Ejaz lacked hotel bookings and adequate travel funds.