Nearly 50 more Pakistanis deported from 9 countries in last 24 hours

• Saudi Arabia sends back six Pakistanis over drug cases.
• At least 14 Umrah pilgrims face offloading in Karachi.
• Malaysia, Iraq deport four Pakistanis over illegal entry.

At least 47 more Pakistanis were deported from Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan and seven other countries in just one day due to allegations of illegal activities other charges, immigration sources reported on Monday. 

Sources said that Saudi Arabia expelled six Pakistanis over charges of involvement in drug peddling, while four other Pakistanis were deported from Azerbaijan after being declared "unpleasant" individuals by the officials there.

Additionally, other deportations included four passengers, who were sent back to Pakistan for attempting illegal entry into Malaysia and Iraq, as per the immigration sources.

Meanwhile, two more Pakistani nationals were among the deportees from Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, the sources added. 

Parallel to this, at least 30 Pakistani passengers travelling abroad were offloaded from the planes at the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi. 

Immigration sources said that the offloaded passengers included at least 14 pilgrims bound for Saudi Arabia for Umrah. The sources said that the pilgrims were intercepted over issues of hotel booking and lack of funds for expenses abroad. 

In addition, two other passengers, who were travelling to the United Kingdom and Azerbaijan, also faced offloading at the airport of the urban megapolis.

Moreover, the offloaded passengers also included 14 individuals aiming to travel to Iraq, Malaysia, Iran and other countries on work visa, sources said. 

FIA detains five Pakistanis upon arrival 

In a related development, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Immigration unit at the Jinnah International Airport has detained five passengers arriving from Mauritania for questioning.

According to an FIA spokesperson, the passengers are from Hafizabad, Gujranwala, and Swat.

Preliminary investigations revealed that travel agents had charged them between Rs2.5 million and Rs3.5 million for illegal passage to Europe. 

The passengers had initially travelled to Mauritania via Dubai, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. Upon arrival in Mauritania, agents attempted to send them illegally to Europe. However, the passengers refused to undertake the illegal sea journey and decided to return to Pakistan.

The individuals have been transferred to the Anti-Human Smuggling Circle in Karachi for further investigation and to identify the agents involved. FIA Karachi Zone Director said that strict scrutiny of travel documents continues, and action is being taken indiscriminately against human smugglers and their facilitators.

The developments come in the wake of strict protocols being observed by the immigration authorities. Last month, the FIA had directed its deputy directors of immigration across the country to be extra vigilant while clearing passengers for boarding planes to stop rampant human trafficking in the country,