Passports
RIYADH/ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia has delivered to Pakistan’s Embassy in Riyadh 12000 fake passports of Pakistan. Saudi authorities recovered these passports Afghan nationals, residing in KSA.
This action follows the initiation of a government inquiry into allegations concerning the issuance of identity cards and passports to illegal migrants.
To conduct a thorough investigation into the recovery of counterfeit Pakistani passports from 12000 Afghans in Saudi Arabia, the government has established a committee.
The committee, chaired by Director General Mustafa Jamal Kazi of the Passport and Immigration Directorate, comprises senior officials from the Interior Ministry, the National Database & Registration Authority (Nadra), and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
The investigative body has been granted a 15-day timeline to propose measures for averting future occurrences and to assign accountability to Nadra. FIA, and passport officers involved in the scam have been suspended.
In recent developments, Saudi authorities discovered 12000 fake Pakistani passports in the possession of Afghan citizens.
This development aligns with the ongoing efforts by law enforcement agencies to crackdown on unscrupulous actors engaged in providing fraudulent citizenship documents to illegal migrants in the country, especially Afghan nationals.
Saudi authorities had communicated to the Pakistani embassy their retrieval of a significant number of Pakistani passports from Afghan citizens.
This revelation came in conjunction with the arrest of the primary suspect, Umar Javed, in Lahore for his involvement in the production of fake passports.
Javed’s apprehension followed the arrest and interrogation of a former officer and a currently serving grade-15 officer from the Passport Directorate. Pakistani passports were issued to Afghan citizens based on counterfeit identity cards.
Furthermore, during the same week, Nadra Chairman Lieutenant General Munir Afsar disclosed in the Senate the involvement of NADRA staff in the issuance of fraudulent Computerized National Identity Cards (CNICs).
This revelation surfaced during the proceedings of the Senate Committee on Interior, which addressed issues related to counterfeit CNICs, the illicit circulation of citizens’ family data in the black market, and the issuance of multiple SIM cards on a single CNIC for illicit purposes.
Chairman Afsar conveyed that action had been taken against employees engaging in any form of illicit activity, with approximately 84 officials suspended thus far.
