Pakistan

Aunt, niece posing as same-gender couple caught at airport

AJK origin British national got UK visa for girl on pretext of same-gender marriage

Our Correspondent July 25, 2019

TSA officials visited Islamabad’s new airport, viewed aviation security infrastructure. PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD: Two women have been arrested for obtaining asylum in the United Kingdom by posing as a “same-sex couple under threat in Pakistan”.

Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) arrested a British national, hailing originally from Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), and her Pakistani niece for misrepresenting facts on their travel documents. They were booked and shifted to FIA's Human Trafficking Cell for further investigation.

According to sources, the two women arrived at Islamabad International Airport's immigration counter as the staff was being briefed about Pakistan International Airline's flight 791 leaving for Birmingham.

The immigration officer was perplexed to see that the women had declared themselves a married couple despite same-sex marriages not being allowed under Pakistani law.

The officer then alerted FIA personnel and when they probed the supposed couple further, the women also produced a forged marriage certificate.

FIA officials took the women in custody and moved them to the Human Trafficking Cell. Sources said that Pakistani authorities will contact British officials, who had been misguided into giving the women asylum.

The British woman told FIA officers that a lawyer had guaranteed a visa for her niece if they pose as a lesbian couple and apply for asylum, citing a threat to their lives.

Meanwhile FIA, in a separate raid, arrested a fraud travel agent who was trying to flee the country from Peshawar airport after looting many people on pretext of providing jobs abroad. The suspect identified as Amir Rehman has been shifted to Human Trafficking Cell in Islamabad.

FIA Islamabad Zone Director Fakhar Sultan Raja told the media that Human Trafficking Cell arrested a suspect who had been involved in cheating people of their hard earned money by offering them employment aboard. The suspect was wanted to police in three fraud cases.

The accused was trying to flee aboard after looting millions from people and arrested while on high alert after the information has been leaked to the department. He has been shifted to Islamabad for further investigation.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 25^th, 2019.