More than 8mn Pakistanis left abroad during 2023: report

KARACHI: More than 8 million Pakistanis had left abroad during the outgoing year 2023, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) said in its annual immigration report.

According to the report, FIA Immigration successfully processed 19.5 million passengers at international arrival and departure counters.

Out of 9.2 million passengers, 7.1 million Pakistanis and 2.1 million foreigners visited Pakistan.

Out of 10.3 million passengers, 8.1 million Pakistani nationals and 2.2 million foreigners departed from Pakistan.

A maximum of 3.6 million Pakistanis traveled through Lahore Airport for overseas arrivals and departures. 3.5 million Pakistani passengers traveled through Islamabad Airport.

The FIA Integrated Border Management System processed 2935 stop list cases, arrested 1602 human traffickers while carrying out operations against human traffickers, the report said.

As many as 25 most wanted human traffickers were also arrested during the year 2023, it said, adding that the US State Department maintained Pakistan’s Tier 2 status in its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report 2023.

As many as 1,129 passengers were offloaded and shifted to respective police stations on the basis of fake documents.

Strict screening was introduced at airports to prevent beggars going under the guise of Umrah and horrific incidents like the Greece boat accident.