Around 170 Pakistanis deported from Gulf and other nations, 24 arrested in Karachi

Feb 16, 2025

Karachi [Pakistan] February 16 : Around 170 Pakistanis have been deported in the past 48 hours from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, and several other nations. Following this, 24 of them were arrested when they arrived in Karachi.
According to a report by Geo News, immigration sources claim that within 48 hours, Saudi officials deported 94 Pakistanis on various offences, including drug peddling, unlawful residency, blacklisting, begging, working without a sponsor, escaping from work, and breaching contracts.
Three people from Oman, one from Thailand, nine from Iraq, one each from the UK and Cyprus, four from Indonesia, and five from Mauritania were among the other people deported on suspicion of human smuggling, Geo News reported.
In addition, one Pakistani was expelled from Tanzania and two others were deported from Qatar for lack of travel funds. In the last two days, 39 Pakistanis who had been sentenced for crimes and other infractions were deported from the United Arab Emirates, a Geo News report revealed.
Geo News reported that the Integrated Border Management System (IBMS) revealed that seven of the deported persons were on a blacklist. Authorities attested to the involvement of several deportees in financial and immigration-related offences.
Geo News highlighted that due to problems with visas and travel documents, officials deported 59 individuals from aircraft that were headed for 21 different countries, including the UK, Saudi Arabia, Cambodia, Egypt, Bahrain, Qatar, and Malawi.
Twenty-one Umrah pilgrims were excluded from the unloading because of inadequate lodging reservations and financial resources. Four others on study visas heading to Cyprus and another going to the UK were also barred from flying, and a person on his way to Italy was offloaded when his asylum plea was denied, Geo News reported.
The Geo News report also claimed that passengers were also prevented from travelling to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Nepal, Iraq, and Turkey. Additionally, four people from Oman were refused boarding, including one who was on a blacklist.
Four women with Umrah visas were also detained by the Federal Investigation Agency's (FIA) Immigration Unit at Karachi Airport on suspicion of being trafficked for forced labour in Saudi Arabia. Authorities assumed a trafficking network was involved because the women had previously visited Saudi Arabia, Geo News reported citing FIA.