FIA stop list: Number of suspected persons soared to over 1,000
- By Web Desk -
- Sep 08, 2023
The number of suspected persons on the stop list or no-fly list has soared to over 1,000, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) sources told ARY News on Friday.
Sources told ARY News that the higher authorities tightened the noose around the suspected influential persons responsible for the economic crisis.
FIA sources detailed that the stop list contains names of assistants of the high-ups including the close aides and officers to former Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Murad Ali Shah.
Several political figures and government officers from the former government were also placed on the FIA stop list. Additionally, businesspersons, real estate builders and industrialists were also included in the no-fly list.
Related: FIA given ‘go-ahead’ to control dollars, sugar smuggling
“The list also contains names of the persons who are accused of corruption, tax theft, hawala hundi, smuggling of currency, sugar and petrol and donors of a political party,” sources revealed.
The immigration staffers at the country’s airports have been instructed to stop the listed persons from travelling abroad.
In July, the ‘wanted’ Customs officers on charges of ‘speed money’ had been placed on the stop list of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to stop them from fleeing abroad.
Major progress was made on actions against the ‘corrupt’ Customs officers wanted to the FIA. The authorities placed the accused officers on FIA’s stop list to stop them from leaving the country after the registration of the speed money case.
Read more: Customs’ lodges case with FIA against its own ‘corrupt’ officials
The accused officers include Customs Collectors Saqif Saeed, Usman Bajwa and Amir Them who have been placed on the stop list. The other officers included Customs Officer Yawar Abbas and Tariq Mehmood who had already been arrested on the corruption charges.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) also placed chalia smuggler Imran Noorani’s name on the stop list.
Sources told ARY News that the anti-corruption circle forwarded the list of the wanted Customs officers to FIA immigration. It was learnt that Customs Collector Saqif Saeed wants to flee abroad and he took one-year leave to travel to a foreign country.