No take-off: FIA arrests 18 over forged travel documents

Two held for operating illegal gateway exchange.

LAHORE:

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested 10 people for trying to fly to Libya on forged documents.

They have been identified as Muhammad Ashraf, Ghulam Mustafa, Muhammad Nasim, Shahid Kanwal, Abdul Aziz, Muhammad Shah Ali, Nauman, Hafiz Bilal Ahmad, Abdul Sattar and Muhammad Asif.

FIA Punjab Director Usman Anwar said the men, offloaded from flight PA-430 at the Allama Iqbal International Airport on Wednesday, wanted to proceed to Libya via Dubai.

He said the FIA had also arrested eight travel agents for arranging forged documents for the offloaded passengers.

They included Iqbal Bhatti, Salimul Hassan, Nawab, Rana Shakil, Muhammad Yaqub, Asif Ali and Sajjad Bhatti.

The arrested men have been sent to the FIA Anti-Human Trafficking Circle for further action.

The FIA also arrested Hafiz Shahid, one of the most wanted human traffickers. His name was also included in the FIA red book of most wanted criminals. Shahid, arrested in Kamoke on Friday, had been nominated in several cases.

Illegal gateway exchange

The FIA’s Cyber Crime wing on Friday raided a house in Gujranwala, and arrested two men – Zuhaib Khalid and Abdul Wahid – for operating an illegal gateway exchange, Anwar said.

He said the FIA had seized the exchange and a satellite dish from the house in City Housing Society.

Arrests over power theft

An FIA team raided a plastic manufacturing unit in Shahdara on Thursday and arrested two men after electricity theft was detected.

Anwar said the factory owner, Abdul Hafeez, and Lahore Electric Supply Company employee Abdul Rashid had been arrested for tampering with the electricity meter on the premises. A case had been registered against the two men.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 10^th, 2014.