Names of licence scandal accused on stop-list

FIA sends details of around 50 people including CAA officials and pilots to all airports, crossings

RAWALPINDI:

Authorities have placed names of over 45 people including officials of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) licensing branch and pilots – facing inquiries over fake flying licenses – on the stop-list in order to prevent them from fleeing Pakistan.

Relevant officials at all airports and border crossings in the country are instructed to detain such people if they try to leave the country and also to inform the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Karachi about it.

Fake licenses scandal emerged in the wake of a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane crash in Karachi in May last year. While sharing a report on the crash in which over 90 people perished, the aviation minister had announced to ground 262 pilots on suspicion of having fake licenses.

After departmental inquiries, authorities tasked the FIA to probe into issuance of fake licenses and the FIA Corporate Crime Cell later first information reports (FIRs) against officials of the CAA licensing branch and the HR branch.

The federal agency filed three cases against eight officers and officials of the CAA licensing branch and HR branch including additional director Mehmood Hussain, two senior joint directors – Faisal Manzoor and Asiful Haq, 40 pilots and a private individual.

At the initial stage, the FIA had arrested five officials of the CAA licensing branch as well as one pilot. The FIA on Tuesday arrested another accused pilot Fahad Sultan while he was trying to travel to the United Kingdom via the New Islamabad Airport. Sultan was later handed to the FIA Karachi.

According to sources, the FIA in view of this attempt by one of the accused to fly abroad has placed names of all the accused on the stop-list so that they may not escape.