In Saudi Arabia, around 12,000 Pakistani passports have been discovered in the possession of Afghan nationals, leading to the Saudi authorities informing the Pakistani embassy in Riyadh about this discovery.

This development coincides with Pakistan’s efforts to crack down on individuals involved in providing fake citizenship documents to illegal migrants in the country, particularly Afghan nationals.

A joint investigation into this matter was initiated by Saudi Arabia’s DG Immigration and Passports chief, Mustafa Kazi, in collaboration with Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

As a result of these investigations, a primary suspect named Umar Javed was apprehended in Lahore due to his involvement in the issuance of counterfeit passports.

Subsequently, an inquiry was expanded to include a former officer and a currently serving grade-15 officer from the Passport Directorate.

Reports in the local media reported that Pakistani passports were issued to Afghan nationals based on fraudulent identity cards.