MULTAN: The Federal Investigation Agency has taken into custody nine people, including women, for trying to travel to Saudi Arabia on Umra visa and begging in the kingdom.
The FIA said that the nine persons were gong to Saudi Arabia for begging and they have been taken into custody for further action. The suspects were about to leave in a flight to Jeddah when the FIA officials offloaded them.
In September this year, the government of Saudi Arabia had asked Pakistan to check arrival of beggars on umrah and Hajj visas.
Sources said beggars obtained visas on the pretext that they were going to perform Umrah and Hajj. However, after arrival in the kingdom they start begging in different cities, specially in Jeddah, Makkah and Madina.
The Saudi government had also asked the Foreign Office of Pakistan to take steps to check beggars from travelling to the Gulf countries. The Pakistan government was told that in case of failure to check the beggars travelling in Saudi Arabia, its applications for Hajj quota could be affected.
It may be recalled that last year 24 beggars were caught trying to fly out of the country from Lahore and Multan airports.
Last year, a Senate standing committee was informed by a senior officer from the Minister of Overseas Pakistanis that a large number of beggars were moving abroad from Pakistan with the help of human smugglers. He also disclosed that “90 per cent of beggars arrested in foreign countries were of Pakistani origin.”
The official said many beggars obtained pilgrim visas to travel to Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Iraq and started begging in these countries by overstaying. He also revealed that a significant number of pickpockets apprehended in holy sites like Haram were also Pakistani nationals.
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