WATCH: PIA air hostess caught smuggling foreign currency at Lahore airport

A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) air hostess was caught red-handed smuggling foreign currency at Allama Iqbal International Airport on Saturday.

Customs officials, in collaboration with Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) immigration, arrested the air hostess after discovering US dollars and Saudi riyals hidden in her socks. The value of the currency in Pakistani rupees amounts to millions.

Deputy Collector Customs Raja Bilal stated that $37,318 and 40,000 Saudi riyals were recovered from the air hostess, who was on a PIA flight from Lahore to Jeddah.

Suspicion led to her being offloaded and searched, revealing the hidden currency.

The air hostess has been handed over to an investigation team after a case was registered against her.

Deputy Collector Bilal emphasised that the government, following the prime minister and FBR chairman's directives, is committed to stopping currency smuggling. PIA senior officials have been informed about the incident.

In March earlier this year, a PIA female flight attendant - assigned on a Canada-bound flight - was detained at the Toronto airport after multiple passports were found in her possession.

Hina Sani, who landed in Toronto on PIA flight PK-789, was held after Canadian immigration authorities found several passports belonging to different individuals in her luggage.

Travelling with passports other than your own is an international crime.

According to sources, Sani was previously warned for bringing prohibited items to Canada.

PIA, the national airline, is grappling with the issue of staff disappearances during overseas assignments.

The latest case involves Noor Sher, a member of the 16-member flight attendant team, assigned to flight PK 781 from Pakistan to Toronto, Canada.

Sher's disappearance was noticed this week when he failed to report for his scheduled return flight.

These repeated incidents have raised serious concerns about the airline's ability to retain its staff on international assignments with at least 14 crew members, both male and female, reported to have deserted since January 2023.

Previously, in 2022, five crew members had disappeared without a trace. In the first incident of this year, air hostess Faiza Mukhtar allegedly slipped away in Canada during a layover in January.

Mukhtar, posted on flight PK 781 from Islamabad to Toronto, did not report for the return flight, leaving behind a four-year-old son.

Another recent case involved flight steward Jibran Baloch, who disappeared from his hotel room in Toronto.