The recent findings of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) have revealed a 300 percent spike in people traveling to Canada, Australia, and Europe with fake documents, and the surge in these travel logs is being attributed to the inflation and unemployment rates in the country. ------------------------------
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Sources also revealed that the FIA has arrested more than 150 people from immigration counters at the international airports in Islamabad, Karachi, and Lahore.
This increase in the reported forgery of travel documents comes weeks after the EU MPs had expressed concern for visa fraud, with Pakistan being placed on an official list of allegedly fraudulent international travels.
The FIA’s report on the matter suggests that people have been paying millions of rupees to travel agents for the issuance of standard but fake travel itineraries. In November, 29 such passengers from Lahore had boarded international flights with fake visas before they were discovered and offloaded by the authorities. Similarly, eight people had also tried to travel abroad with bogus documents in November last year. ------------------------------
Despite the ongoing pandemic, Pakistanis are still trying to travel abroad without standard and officially-issued travel documents.
Consequently, the FIA has initiated an around-the-clock overhaul of immigration security checks at designated boarding counters at international airports in Pakistan. Details about the matter are yet to be revealed.