FIA offloads alleged beggars at Karachi airport

KARACHI: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has offloaded as many as 11 alleged beggars disguised as Umrah pilgrims.

According to details, the alleged culprits were offloaded from a Saudi Arabia-bound flight at the Karachi airport.

An FIA spokesperson said the group, consisting of eight women and three men, were caught with fake return tickets and hotel booking, adding that they had confessed to their crime during interrogation.

A senior FIA official said that immigration staff at airports have offloaded several passengers from flights in the last couple of months to discourage the trend. Beggars disguise themselves as tourists to visit Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Iran, Oman, and Turkey, the official said.