Islamabad: Five Pakistanis have been arrested on allegations of “illegal emigration” to Israel, which Islamabad does not recognise as a state, the newspaper reported quoting the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
All of the arrests were made in Pakistan, although there is little information available on the time of the suspects’ alleged return from Israel. The FIA stated in a tweet that the arrests were carried out by its Mirpur khas crime circle, adding that the suspects had been working as “helpers and car washers” in Tel Aviv.
Separately, the five people detained were all Mirpur khas residents who "travelled to Israel with the help of an agent, said to be an Israeli citizen," according to Abdul Hameed Bhutto, director of the FIA Sindh (Zone-II).
According to the FIA statement, each suspect paid the agent between PKR 300,000 and 400,000 to enter Israel, whereas Bhutto indicated that they paid more than PKR 2 million to the agency to get work in Israel, as per newspaper.
Bhutto said that they were arrested after an inquiry initiated by the FIA on the basis of a strategic analysis report (SAR) regarding foreign remittances. He also said, “By travelling to a country that was not recognised, the suspects had violated multiple laws. FIRs have been registered against them on account of their illegal emigration to Israel, despite knowing that their passports do not validate their travel to or stay in the country for the purpose of employment.”
The media were able to retrieve one of the FIRs, which stated that the FIA’s Mirpur khas branch recently opened an inquiry on the basis of an SAR regarding outward and inward foreign remittances concerning individuals living in Mirpur khas, who were reportedly involved in receiving payments from Israel.