FIA arrests female ‘beggars’ traveling to Saudi Arabia in guise of Umrah

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Sunday offloaded three female ‘beggars’ travelling to Saudi Arabia in the disguise of Umrah pilgrims at Karachi airport, ARY News reported.

According to the FIA spokesperson, females were arrested by FIA Immigration upon checking at the Karachi airport.

During the checking, the FIA team found that the females did not have return tickets and hotel booking while travelling to Saudi Arabia for Umrah.

The authorities said prior to this, the females were also offloaded at the Lahore airport.

The arrested ‘beggars’ were handed over to the FIA Anti-Smuggling Circle for probe.

Read more: Beggars offloaded

Earlier, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) offloaded 24 alleged beggars in the disguise of Umrah pilgrims from Saudi Arabia-bound flight at Multan airport.

The FIA officials during the immigration process questioned the passengers who confessed that they were going to visit the KSA to seek alms.

The arrests came after the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development disclosed to the Senate Committee on Overseas Pakistanis that a significant proportion of beggars are trafficked abroad through illegal channels.