KARACHI: Six of the 11 Iranian nationals arrested from the Turbat Airport a few days ago have been moved to the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) counter-terrorism wing in Karachi for further investigations, a senior FIA official said on Thursday.

“Eleven Iranian nationals were arrested from Turbat Airport in Balochistan on their arrival from Muscat for obtaining fake Pakistani identity in cognizance of the National Database and Registration Authority’s officials,” Abdul Hafeez Jakhrani, a senior FIA official in Quetta, told Arab News.

“Five of the arrested accused persons were shifted to the provincial capital, Quetta, where a judicial magistrate remanded them into our custody whereas six have been moved to the counter-terrorism wing of the FIA in Karachi,” Jakhrani said.

The FIA official added that the arrested Iranian nationals were detained for possessing fake Pakistani identity cards and passports which they had been using to travel to the Middle East since 2014.

According to the FIA official, the passports had been issued in the Gwadar and Turbat cities of Balochistan. “Arrests in Immigration and Passport Department, and National Database and Registration Authority are expected in the aftermath of the arrest of these Iranian nationals,” DawnNews, a Pakistani News channel which broke the story first, quoted an FIA official as saying. “The number of arrested Iranian nationals is 11 and not 7 as reported,” Jakhrani told Arab News.

“Investigations are underway and anything further can be shared on the conclusion of the probe,” he said.

Last Saturday, the Foreign Office (FO) summoned the Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan and lodged a strong protest against the killing of six Pakistani soldiers along the Pakistan-Iran Border. On Friday, six Pakistani soldiers were killed when nearly 30 terrorists attacked a convoy which was on patrolling duty along the Pakistan-Iran border, a statement released by the FO read.

“In the cowardly terrorist attack, 14 other soldiers were also injured. In exchange of fire four terrorists were killed,” the statement said, adding that the government of Iran “was urged to carry out an effective operation against the terrorist group responsible for the attack on its side of the border”.

“The need for an effective border coordination mechanism to prevent such incidents in the future was also underscored,” the statement said.