KARACHI: Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Sunday foiled an attempt to traffick four women to Saudi Arabia under the guise of Umrah, the agency said, adding that a former police employee was involved in the crime.
The incident took place at the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, where FIA officials offloaded four women from a flight who were traveling to the Kingdom on an Umrah visa, the agency said.
“According to the initial investigation, the victims were being sent to Saudi Arabia for forced labor,” the FIA said in a statement, adding that the women had traveled to the Kingdom before.
The agency said the preliminary investigations revealed a former Punjab Police employee, Asia, was involved in the crime. The FIA said that Asia had borne the travel expenses of the four women to Saudi Arabia.
“An agent named Wasim Gujjar was facilitating the stay and other expenses [of the women] in Saudi Arabia,” the statement said.
The agency said it was extracting information from the women about other agents involved in the crime.
Pakistan has acknowledged the issue of its citizens exploiting the Umrah visa to travel to Saudi Arabia and resorting to begging there. Last year it launched a crackdown against the practice.
The trend of beggars abusing visas to beg in foreign countries has Pakistan worried it could impact genuine visa-seekers and particularly religious pilgrims to Saudi Arabia. According to widespread media reports, Riyadh raised the issue with Islamabad at various forums last year.
Pakistanis are the second-largest expatriate community in the Kingdom, with over 2.5 million living and working in Saudi Arabia, the top source of remittances to the South Asian country.
