FIA told to strictly check young passengers at airports

KARACHI: The Federal Investigation Agency Headquarters has issued an advisory for passengers from nine cities of Pakistan to stop human trafficking.

Deputy Directors of FIA Immigration across the country have been directed to strictly monitor first-time foreign passengers between the age of 15 and 40 during immigration process. Strict checking of young passengers of Fly Dubai and Ethiopian Airlines should be conducted, the FIA circular said. According to the directive, an improved system of profiling passengers travelling to Azerbaijan, Ethiopia, Senegal, Kenya, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Libya, Iran, Mauritania, Iraq, Turkiye, Qatar, Kuwait and Kyrgyzstan should be implemented.

Strict monitoring and profiling of passengers residing in Mandi Bahauddin, Gujarat, Sialkot, Gujranwala, Bhimber, Jhelum, Toba Tek Singh, Hafizabad and Sheikhupura should be completed. All documents, including return tickets, hotel bookings, of such passengers should be thoroughly scrutinised, the order said.

Documents should be scrutinised with special attention to visit or tourist visas, and strict interviews be conducted to ascertain financial arrangements of suspicious passengers along with their travel purpose, the order said.

All the immigration officers have been directed to keep a detailed record of all such cases and report any suspicious matter immediately.

According to FIA sources, due to lack of a clear advisory policy at the country’s airports for the last 20 years, officials showed hesitancy in offloading the passengers.