170 Pakistanis deported from Middle East countries: Report

Islamabad: Nearly 170 Pakistanis have been deported from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other countries over the last two days, according to a media report on Sunday.

Saudi authorities deported 94 Pakistanis involved in begging, drug dealing, illegal residence, working without a sponsor, absconding from employment, and violating contractual agreements, Geo News reported quoting immigration sources. Some of them were also blacklisted.

Another 39 Pakistanis were deported from the UAE in the past two days after serving sentences for illegal activities and other violations. Others were deported from Oman, Thailand, Iraq, the UK, Cyprus, Indonesia, Mauritania, Qatar, and Tanzania.

The authorities also offloaded 59 passengers from flights bound for 21 countries, including the UK, Saudi Arabia, Cambodia, Egypt, Bahrain, Qatar, and Malawi, due to visa and travel documentation issues.

Among those offloaded, 21 Umrah pilgrims were denied travel because of insufficient hotel bookings and funds.

A passenger travelling to Italy was offloaded after his asylum request was rejected, while another heading to the UK on a student visa and four individuals travelling to Cyprus on study visas were also prevented from flying, the report said.

Additionally, passengers attempting to travel to Turkiye, the UAE, Thailand, Malaysia, Nepal, Iraq, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Oman and Congo were stopped.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) also arrested 24 individuals upon arrival in Karachi following their deportation, according to the report.