183 Afghans pilgrims held for holding Pakistani passports


dpa German Press Agency
Published: Thursday January 25, 2007

Islamabad- Immigration staff in Pakistan's port city of
Karachi on Thursday arrested 183 Afghans who returned from the Hajj
pilgrimage on Pakistani passports, news reports said.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) detained the pilgrims for
unlawful possession of identity and travel documents that were
supposedly issued by local authorities, the Geo news channel said.

The FIA last week also arrested 122 Afghans and two travel agents
on the same charges as they arrived in Karachi.

The Pakistani embassy in the Saudi city of Riyadh earlier informed
the authorities in Islamabad that hundreds of Afghan nationals
carrying forged or wrongly issued documents entered Saudi Arabia to
perform Hajj.

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency