The recent findings of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) have revealeda 300 percent spike in people traveling to Canada, Australia, and Europewith fake documents, and the surge in these travel logs is being attributedto the inflation and unemployment rates in the country.——————————
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Sources also revealed that the FIA has arrested more than 150 people fromimmigration counters at the international airports in Islamabad, Karachi,and Lahore.
This increase in the reported forgery of travel documents comes weeks afterthe EU MPs had expressed concern for visa fraud, with Pakistan being placedon an official list of allegedly fraudulent international travels.
The FIA’s report on the matter suggests that people have been payingmillions of rupees to travel agents for the issuance of standard but faketravel itineraries. In November, 29 such passengers from Lahore had boardedinternational flights with fake visas before they were discovered andoffloaded by the authorities. Similarly, eight people had also tried totravel abroad with bogus documents in November last year.——————————
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Despite the ongoing pandemic, Pakistanis are still trying to travel abroadwithout standard and officially-issued travel documents.
Consequently, the FIA has initiated an around-the-clock overhaul ofimmigration security checks at designated boarding counters atinternational airports in Pakistan. Details about the matter are yet to berevealed.
