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Pak police break up passport-selling ring
Peshawar, May 11: Authorities broke up a passport-selling ring that was supplying stolen Pakistani passports to al-Qaida suspects trying to flee the country, an official said today.
Peshawar, May 11: Authorities broke up a passport-selling ring that was supplying stolen Pakistani passports to al-Qaida suspects trying to flee the country, an official said today.
The arrests were made yesterday in the border city of
Peshawar, said Inamullah Khan Gandapur, an assistant director
with the Federal Investigations Agency, which polices
immigration.
The men were picked up in a raid in an upscale residential district, he said.
"We had information that these people were involved in providing Pakistani passports to al-Qaida suspects," Gandapur said. Police seized 100 blank Pakistani passports.
The passports were stolen earlier from a government office in swat, a region northeast of Peshawar. The official did not say when the theft occurred.
He also did not say how many al-Qaida suspects may have been ready to purchase the passports or how senior they may have been in the organisation's hierarchy.
The passport dealers were being questioned, he said. Police believe they are ordinary crooks with no direct links to al-Qaida, he said.
Bureau Report
The men were picked up in a raid in an upscale residential district, he said.
"We had information that these people were involved in providing Pakistani passports to al-Qaida suspects," Gandapur said. Police seized 100 blank Pakistani passports.
The passports were stolen earlier from a government office in swat, a region northeast of Peshawar. The official did not say when the theft occurred.
He also did not say how many al-Qaida suspects may have been ready to purchase the passports or how senior they may have been in the organisation's hierarchy.
The passport dealers were being questioned, he said. Police believe they are ordinary crooks with no direct links to al-Qaida, he said.
Bureau Report