258 Pak citizens deported from 7 countries, 16 arrested in Karachi

As many as 258 Pakistanis were deported from seven countries, including Saudi Arabia, the (UAE), and China in the last 24 hours, officials said.

A spokesperson of the Immigration department at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport said, among them, 14 had Pakistani passports, while 244 were deported on emergency travel documents.

We arrested 16 deportees at the Karachi airport, including one with a suspicious identity, while the rest were released after questioning, he said.

He said nine of the persons deported from Saudi Arabia were professional beggars. Two of them were caught performing Hajj without permits and were sent back after completing their sentences, he added.

He said that many of those deported from Saudi Arabia, and the UAE were working without sponsorship while four were deported on drug charges.

One individual each was deported from China, Qatar, Indonesia, Cyprus, and Nigeria.

The trend of deportations has been rising significantly, he said.

In the past 24 hours, the Federal Investigation Agency's (FIA) Immigration Cell also offloaded 35 passengers at the Karachi airport who were travelling to various countries.

Passengers bound for Saudi Arabia on an Umrah visa were offloaded due to a lack of advance hotel bookings and insufficient funds for expenses.

Passengers who wanted to proceed to Saudi Arabia on a work visa were offloaded for not having proper work visa documents.

The authorities emphasised that passengers must ensure they have complete documentation, proper visas, advance bookings, and sufficient funds to avoid such incidents.