KARACHI: At least 107 Pakistani nationals landed at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport on Saturday evening after being deported from 12 different countries, including the United States, Belgium and Saudi Arabia, while immigration authorities barred 55 people from traveling abroad due to various irregularities including issues with their travel documents. Immigration sources revealed that daily unloading causes passengers to lose their tickets, which is a huge financial burden. An estimated 50 passengers suffered a collective loss of Rs 10 crore due to the flight cancellation. Among those affected were four passengers bound for Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman on the stopover list, while passengers bound for Canada and two for Nepal on visitor visas were also offloaded. Similarly, two passengers traveling to Türkiye on visitor visas and two other passengers traveling to Azerbaijan on work visas were denied boarding. Ten Umrah pilgrims were denied entry to Saudi Arabia due to insufficient advance payment for hotel reservations and insufficient funds, while a traveler with a permanent residence card in Switzerland faced a similar fate. Travelers on work visas to Saudi Arabia, Oman and Algeria, along with visitors to Iraq, the UAE, Malaysia, Somalia, Bahrain, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Singapore, were stopped for incomplete documentation. In a related development, as many as 107 Pakistani nationals were deported from 12 countries, including the United States, Belgium and Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, immigration officials arrested 14 deportees on drug-smuggling and counterfeiting charges as they landed at the Karachi airport. From the United Arab Emirates alone, 40 Pakistanis were deported on board several flights. Eleven Pakistanis were arrested by UAE authorities on drug-smuggling charges, while two were charged with circulating fake currency, according to immigration sources. The deported individuals are said to have served their sentence in a UAE jail before their repatriation to Pakistan, the sources added.
