FIA constable arrested at airport on bribery charges

MULTAN: A Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) constable posted at Multan International Airport has been arrested on charges of accepting a bribe, as part of the agency’s internal accountability drive on the directives of the FIA Director General Riffat Mukhtar.

According to official sources, the Director of the FIA Multan Zone ordered the registration of a case against Constable Adil, who was performing immigration duties at the airport.

The constable allegedly accepted a bribe to allow an unaccompanied female passenger to travel for Umrah despite her failure to meet mandatory travel requirements.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the passenger did not possess a return ticket from Saudi Arabia and lacked sufficient funds to cover her expenses.

She was reportedly deceived by a travel agent, who charged her Rs280,000 after falsely promising her employment in Saudi Arabia.

The FIA officials said the agent allegedly paid the bribe to the constable to prevent the passenger from being offloaded. Following the incident, the FIA Multan registered a case and arrested the accused.

Authorities said raids were underway to arrest the absconding agent, while the scope of the investigation has been expanded.

Earlier, the Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Riffat Mukhtar Raja, continued the process of internal accountability in the department by taking disciplinary action against 19 officers and officials on charges of corruption, abuse of authority, and negligence.

According to a statement issued by the Directorate of Internal Accountability, six officials were dismissed from service following departmental inquiries.

Those dismissed include Inspector Maria Niaz, who was removed from service for illegally occupying a government residence and remaining absent from duty.

Sub-Inspector Kashif Riaz Awan was dismissed for providing protection to a gang involved in illegal organ trafficking.