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London 2012: JIT to probe UK-travel scam claims
The Sun claims it busted a scam regarding travel staff offering fake passports, visas and entry into the London 2012
The Sun's investigator told he could be smuggled into London games as part of Pakistan’s Olympic squad for £7,000.
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Affairs Rehman Malik formed a joint investigation team (JIT) on Monday to investigate the UK-travel scam claims made by the daily tabloid The Sun. The team would include officials from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
The Director General FIA was also ordered to submit the investigation report to the Interior Ministry.
National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) Chairman Tariq Malik suspended eight of its officials and also ordered inquiry into the matter.
The UK-based daily claimed to have busted a scam by a Lahore-based politician and Pakistani officials, which could have given a chance to “potential terrorists” to sneak into the United Kingdom along with Pakistan’s Olympic squad.
Pakistan’s Olympic chef de mission Aqil Shah dismissed The Sun‘s claims.
“These are baseless reports,” Shah told AFP. “This is an attempt to malign Pakistan. Even if someone gets a passport he cannot enter the Olympic Village without an Olympic accreditation card.”
Pakistan’s 39-strong delegation – minus Shah – is already in London and consists of 23 athletes and 16 officials.
Shah justified the number of officials.
“Hockey has at least six officials which are under the rules and then we have physicians and other coaches who are genuine members of Pakistan’s contingent,” said Shah.
Pakistan Olympic Association chief Arif Hasan was already in London and discussing the matter with the Pakistan High Commission, said Shah.
Two-month visa, London entry for £7,000
The Sun says that it broke into the crime ring of Pakistani officials and travel staff which were offering fake passports, visas and entry into the London 2012. The Sun further claims a Lahore-based politician named Abid Chodhary was also part of the ring.
The tabloid claims its investigator obtained a Pakistani passport with a false name. The investigator was told by Chodhary that they could get him a two-month visa and smuggle him into the London games as part of Pakistan’s Olympic squad in the athletes’ support team for £7,000.
The Sun also secretly filmed Chodhary while he explained the entire process to the investigator and told him that he could also get him into the opening ceremony.
MI6, UK’s Home Office, the UK Border Agency and the British High Commission in Pakistan were alerted about the scam and an investigation was initiated subsequently.
When the British High Commission was contacted by The Express Tribune, they said that the report by The Sun is “self-explanatory” and that nothing in detail could be told at the moment as it was “too early to say anything.”
British High Commission Spokesperson Imran Rana said, “We thank The Sun for highlighting this attempted deal and will be handling the evidence over to the Pakistani authorities.”
Read more:
OlympicsScam
Reader Comments (67)
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This is so embarrassing for Pakistan !
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Luckily the politician involved can get asylum in UK and live on UK tax payer money.
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Jeeyay BHUTTO
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Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Affairs Rehman Malik on Abid Chodhary: There is no such person in our database. So I reject this outright.
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Another feather in the crown!!
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PML-(N) zindabad
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DepressingRecommend
not surprised.
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Another victory for PML (N)!
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this is what our people are good at… really not surprised…
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i agree for the first time with rehman malik, minister or advisor what ever he is, no such person by this name in punjab assebly ,
if anyone know can you plz tell me from where he is elected or selected
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Abid Chodhary is not Abid Sher Ali? or is he? :z
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there is no such person in our database…
tell us where he is elected or selected (from)…
2 more cents from me -
give us proof… we will investigate
these evidences are not sufficient…. it can’t withstand in our judicial system…
he is a free person… nothing is proved in the pakistani court of justice… he is innocent
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@Tanzeel: Most likely that’s who it is !
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@Tanzeel: No – Not him; Follow the entire story here:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/olympics/4444496/Olympic-Games-terror-visas-racket-exposed-by-The-Sun.html
Sun is from the same family of News Group who did the Cricket Spot Fixing thing against Pakistan namely News of the World but regardless of that, we cannot ignore the the bad that exist there.
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We must explore whether Mr. Chadhury has links with CIA, RAW or Mosaad. They are obviously defaming Pakistani institutions, such as NADRA which is a disciplined institution.
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take it easy folks, ‘The Sun’ is famous for creating such clueless stupid news against Pakistan every now and then ..
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we reject this also.
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The only reason why The sun is famous is for page three news in Briefs. This is a conspiracy by Sun to demoralize Pakistani athletes so that they do not win gold medals this year. UK is doing everything to increase its tally of medals and deter any potential adversaries. I know as I live here.
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I followed link, only proof SUN have shown is making fake passport, which ofcourse is sense of worry, but how can “PAKISTANI” officials issue a fake visa? if thy do so, than it shows incompetence both on Pakistan n UK immigration staff. SO, i think only valid proof for this story is making a fake passport. nothing more, SUN is trying to sell a fake headline with proof of something else
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@shaista:
Clueless stupid news…r u blind or deaf ?? …. have u forgot amir, ali and butt spot fixing case..where 3 of them admitted to spot fixing … and as per mohd. amir ..salman butt is the main leader and mohd asif has been doing it for months……..if the SUN tabloid had just alleged these claims… then we could say they were bluffing…but when there is proper video evidence given then why argue my friend ??
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Does it mattes who Abid is? Isn’t it enough that a person can illegally export a person to UK with the Pakistan Olympic squad.
May Allah Bless this nation which is full or crooks, thieves, cheats and hypocrats!
Shameful.
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@TightChuddhi:
As if pakistan always brings all the golds home and this time too it was expected. moreover as if fake visas scam is something never heard of before.
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Why am I not surprised? Look at Pakistan in the corruption league and you get the picture.
It is always everyone’s fault but never it’s own. The Pakistan cricket team and the people who were convicted for fixing still claim it was a conspiracy. I dont know why we bother calling this country the Land of the Pure.
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Shame for us being expatriates….
Almost daily we face some embaracement either inside or out side pakistan.
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Why do Tabloids in UK become active against Pakistan all of a sudden? Don’t they know the standard procedure for every country is that the number of players with their managers first go through verification’s and then they are issued the Olympic Card, without which no individual can enter the Heathrow Airport and the Olympic village??
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@free man:
Pretty sure he was being sarcastic.
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The comments here remind of the reaction when match-fixing allegations were levelled against Pakistani players…
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@Shaan:
True. You can get false passports even in UK. But getting false visa and especially for getting into Olympics is something different. Does not make any sense to me.
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Another attempt by the politicians to tarnish Pakistan’s image. Democracy zindabad.
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What do you expect when you elect cheap uneducated luteras into power? Decency, ethics, rules of law?? LOLS – CMON! We as a nation are more to blame than anyone else – oooo yea raw and cia were behind this too – they have nothing better to do – reality is, they couldnt be bothered less about destroying Pakistan’s name – we are doing it just fine for them by ourselves!
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UK authorities should feel honoured to host even more innovative Pakistanis finding new ways to grace their soil and that too in line with advice rendered to them by none other than their beloved Ex-PM who categorically said “Who’s stopping them” in one of his historical interviews to CNN.
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This is not something news. All Pakistanis are trying to get out of this islamic country and stay in a christian majority country.
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Can you really blame these in the NA,PAs and Senate, their leadership is corrupt to the core and has amassed billions through crooked means,and safeguarding it with all the power they could muster and that includes the Shariff brothers. It is such a shameful day for all of us living in US or UK, sometime I wonder why we are the way we are, is there any honest politician left in Pakistan who could stand up for the law of the land and reject his or her party chief for encouraging this rampant corruption. Pleas stand up and be counted.Recommend
Hold on !! why pakistan on this particular time when the olymics are about to kick off !!. Dont we know that the same happens in india, nigeria etc. There was a documentary on air where you could go to southall (west of london) and get fake british passports driving license etc !!
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Reminds me of Gilani’s interview on CNN
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Interviewer: one third Pakistanis want to exit Pakistani what do u say about that?
Gilani; Who’s stopping them?
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Congrats on winning another Gold Medal… Off the Field.
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It is not news that Pakistani politicians and officers are corrupt.
But Sun should tell us about the British embassy corruption in issuing visas to fake passport holders.
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seriously at commentators here, if u have such an issue with Pakistan what you guys are doing in Pakistan or commenting on pak website? U can buy fake green cards, social security cards etc etc even in US, one can buy fake or original passports etc anywhere in the world for right amount of money. Seriously stop acting like you guys are pakistanis
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Punjab is the best governed province in the country. That means more than 60% of Pakistan is happy doing well. If you don’t believe me ask Abid Sher Ali.
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The culprits should be given an exemplary punishment so that no other travel agent in the country should dare to repeat the same crime again.
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One things for sure. no ones going to resign. Some nadra officials might be made scapegoats. We are fast heading towards becoming total pariahs. This is no conspiracy. It happens around all of us every single day.
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Lets pray that no terrorist event takes place because of this greed.
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We continue to fall in the abyss. Is there no bottom.
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Mian Nawaz sharif Zindabad!
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@Shaan: The visa wouldn’t have been fake – it would have been genuine and is issued based on the provided list of all the sports official to visit UK – It is provided to the embassy and they perform regular checks on the security and that’s it – they wouldn’t do a check on if Government of Pakistan lied about the name.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BABnjRQAOZU video shows about fake british passport. Its not just happening in Pakistan but also in corrupt contries in eastern europe!. Having said that this has to be stopped!.
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Blaming Pakistan as it only happens here. All you need is money and contacts and you can get passport of any country of the world.
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What a shame, embarrassing and disgusting,is there anything we can be proud of this country??????
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No worries..it is free advertisement for The group and this would boast their business.
Work would be continued…..
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“Terror Scam?” That’s inciting hatred against our country.
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These are real issues Pakistan is facing today.I am disappointed NADRA has also been breached by corrupts.Unfortunately our journalists are busy in covering politics in print and electronic media.Three guests one host formula, discussing politics in cosy studios has become norm in Pakistan. I would like to give credit to the investigative journalist of Sun newspaper.
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It could well be a conspiracy to demonize Pakistani
s. Theres no evidence except a passport all which is being shown. The whole stuff has been made dramatized.Recommend
Say whatever, blame whoever. Point is it is going to be more and more difficult for Pakistanis to go anywhere abroad. The polio vaccination case, visa scams, terrorist using it as a transit and training place make it a perfect case to be categorized as a pariah state. And oh, who can forget the treatment meted out to minorities which classifies a whole society and not a few radicals. Good luck travelers. You need it bad.
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Cheats and scam artists operate around the globe. If I am not wrong to be part of a countries Olympic team it is vital to have the Olympic Authorities Accreditation Card.
This looks like a cheap con artist making money at the expense of gullible idiots and a tabloid of the same level breaking the story.
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To buy a Pakistani Passport (or for that matter any other country is not a big deal) yes it’s true our passport is much easy to buy than others, just ask Afghani, Indian n Iranian friends they will be kind to show their muslim brother a Pakistani how to get it. It’s more difficult for citizen to get passport than to above mentioned citizens. Now, regarding Abid Chaudry or Abid Hussain or Abid Sherman Ali etc etc is not worth investigating, best people to put some light would be passport agents standing in front of passport office. Rgding Mr. Reman Malik/ his statement, he is confuse how his own name is in data base, how he can help otherwise. Beside all this SUN newspaper in many ways is worthless tabloid, so we should just read it’s news n throw it in dustpan.
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few days ago….on the news of 3 million afghan refugees fixing to go back to Afghanistan….i commented that afghans already bought Pakistani national ID cards from NADRA by giving bribe to few people who work their…but, my comments were never approved on that news…
…but, when something makes the news, even Tribune dont mind posting it.
Government is involved and responsible for this…i say this now…and you all will see it in some other news when released !
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I am not stunned to listen this news but astonished to read the comments of few of my friends and to listen some Pakistani people who instead of demanding some drastic actions against the accused persons, they are trying defend these people who are stain on the name of Pakistan. I want you all to recollect the spot fixing case of Amir, Salman & Asif when it was just broken by English Media every Pakistani including Pakistani media were saying that they are innocent and they are just trapped by the English Media who is an ancient enemy of Pakistan and Pakistani Sports Men but later what happened the entire world and entire Pakistan are well aware that aforementioned players acknowledged the blames as true and got Pakistan and entire Pakistani Nation humiliated globally.
Hence, I demand Pakistan higher authorities to take very drastic action and to initiate the case of treachery against the responsible persons so that in future not to speak of daring to do, any individual even dare not to think in his dream regarding such activities. In this context I also solicit Hon’able Chief Justice of Pakistan to take Suo Moto Action as early as possible.Recommend
Green passport ki izzat mein aik aur chaand
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Nothing new. Routine ki embarrassment.
Wait for travel restrictions to be imposed due to polio campaign
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And Sun is the most credible of institutions in media?! Pakistan should sue it and sink the corporation for good.
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I wonder about the status of Pakistan’s “investigative journalism”. Most of this journalism is pretty much limited to sitting in SC, and using blackberry to send “headlines” of Chohd. Iftakhar.
Since its absent here in Pak, this is left to foreign journalists employing Pakistanis to investigate corruption in NADRA. PML-N’s politician is also involved, with ties to the CM. Interestingly, I could not spot Zardar’s name here
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7000 pounds only… You must be kidding.
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And if someone making fool out of People. why government and democracy responsible for this I am sure there are lot of stupid people gave 7000 pound to this kind of fraud people. and why is always Punjab involve in this kind of scam.
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http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/olympics/4444496/Olympic-Games-terror-visas-racket-exposed-by-The-Sun.html
watch the actual recording,
Citizen of Pakistan can cheat the people going for Hajj , this is nothing?
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NADRA is the most inefficient organization of fed govt. You can get everything fake if you have money and resources but if you want you things legitimate, they will ruin your life. I am talking out of my personal experience.
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@ To anti-PPP folks:
Abid Chaudhry hails from the opposition PML-N, why else do you think no suo motos have been taken so far? I bet PCO Chaudhry would jump in if the government takes action against him.
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