Human smuggling: UK officials arrive on trafficking probe

Officials to look into alleged involvement of FIA and PIA officials in smuggling 11 Afghan citizens to the UK

ISLAMABAD:

Three officials of the UK’s Immigration and Border Agency have arrived in Pakistan to join a high-level investigation by the Ministry of Interior and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). They will look into the alleged involvement of officials of the FIA’s Immigration Wing and the Pakistan International Airlines in smuggling 11 Afghan citizens to the UK on September 22. 

Officials close to the development told the Express Investigation Cell that the officials from UK will meet with senior officers of the interior ministry and the FIA. They will pool information of the investigation, visit the Benazir Bhutto International Airport Islamabad and review progress of FIA’s investigation.

They will also examine FIA Immigration’s documentary evidence at the Islamabad airport, especially the Integrated Border Management System (IBMS), the officials said.

The Immigration and Border Agency team will submit technical observations to the interior ministry and help preparing a fact-finding report of the high-profile incident, they said.

The UK government took serious notice of the incident and was visiting Pakistan to determine the “real” facts behind it, the officials said. The immigration data of the 11 Afghan citizens on the flight was missing from the IBMS. This led to suspicions that senior officers were involved in the trafficking incident, they said. The FIA’s Immigration Wing issued clearance to 300 passengers travelling on the UK-bound flight PK-785 on September 22 and the same number of passengers boarded the flight. The FIA Immigration’s mandatory “entry” stamp was found on the passports of the Afghan citizens when they arrived at Heathrow Airport. However, the IBMS did not have details of these citizens (scanned copies of their passports, visas and pictures).

Either their records were deleted as soon as they were busted in the UK, or they were never entered into the IBMS, officials said.

As a result, the governments of Pakistan and the UK have launched a joint investigation to probe the facts behind the human smuggling incident.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 8^th, 2014.