Two conmen held as FIA busts US visa racket

Millions swindled out of more than 50 families who sought help with emigration 

Karachi 

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) claimed arresting two men on Wednesday for allegedly running a US visa and emigration racket. 

Personnel of the FIA’s Anti-Corruption Circle (ACC) took into custody visa vendors Rizwan and Akbar Adil after the agency received a written complaint from the US Consulate, Karachi.

The complaint said some people were swindling handsome amounts out of applicants on the pretext of facilitating them in acquiring US visas and completing the immigration process.

FIA Sindh Director Shahid Hayat Khan said the American consulate provided an original passport and an old Pakistani passport in the name of Imtiaz Maknojia where a stamp on Page 34 of PP had been erased.

During the course of an inquiry, Maknojia joined the proceedings and voluntarily provided his email ID and password. His email account contained numerous scan images of passports of US visa applicants and prospective emigrants as well as recordings of phone calls between him, emigration facilitator Faizan Mushtaq and another suspect, Hammad. 

The email account also contains screenshot images of WhatsApp conversations with Mushtaq and others about visa and emigration. 

It contains the passport image of Maknojia where the erased stamp was visible on Page 34. The stamp pertains to the German Consulate, Karachi, which had refused him a visa. 

The suspect provided another email ID, which was jointly operated and used by him and Zulfiqar Ali, a visa and emigration facilitator, and contains similar information.

The FIA director said Maknojia remitted Rs2,500,000 to Mushtaq in his bank accounts as his share and used to send passports of applicants to Mushtaq in Lahore through TCS, and those passports were obtained from there on a self-collection basis.

Another member of the racket, Akbar Adil, was said to be an accomplice of Hammad and Rizwan Ali. He allegedly facilitated a family in acquiring US visas for about Rs4 million.

The cases of the family were referred by Ali to Adil for processing them. Adil then got the application forms processed by a visa consultant.

After the grant of visas, Adil collected the passports of the family members from American Express on the basis of an authority letter and handed them over to Ali against an agreed share.

FIA Director Hayat said they had registered an FIR against the suspects and arrested Ali and Adil. The suspects were said to have facilitated more than 50 families against Rs4 million per family. These suspects used to prepare fake documents and bank statements for the visa process. They had contacts in the US where they helped these families with permanent settlement and jobs. 

Initially seven members of the racket have been identified, and two of them are residing in the UAE while one is in the US.

According to the FIA, the accused have taken millions of rupees from emigrants, especially those belonging to the Ismaili community, and their financial transactions are being investigated. Examinations of their email accounts have resulted in retrieval of incriminating material confirming their involvement in the visa emigration facilitation, which is cognizable under the Emigration Ordinance 1979.  Raids are being conducted to catch the absconding accused.