Italian Embassy Contact FIA To Prevent the Misuse of stolen 'Shenzhen visa stickers'

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) received 1,000 Shenzhen visa stickers stolen from the Italian embassy in Islamabad. Has been tasked with preventing abuse. According to the Dawn newspaper, the Italian embassy has informed the Foreign Ministry about the theft of visa stickers, which allow travel to any of the 26 states of Europe. The Foreign Ministry said in a letter to the Interior Ministry that the Italian embassy in Islamabad had reported that 1,000 Schengen visa stickers had been stolen from the embassy's locker room. From ITA041914000 and the number of 250 visa stickers from ITA041915751 to ITA041916000, Italian authorities are conducting an internal investigation.

The State Department requested the Interior Ministry and the FIA ​​to "detect these visa stickers on entry and exit routes and report any developments to the State Department." The Interior Ministry has referred the matter to the FIA ​​headquarters. FIA sources told Dawn that the FIA's role is simply to prevent the misuse of these visa stickers by entering their numbers into our system. Sources said that as far as the investigation into the theft of visa stickers is concerned, it is within the purview of the local police station. According to sources, the FIA ​​system installed at airports can track down the holders of stolen visas. Sources did not rule out the involvement of an organized network in the sale of visa stickers by human traffickers.

An official working for a private overseas employment company said it was a multi-billion rupee scam because the price of a Shenzhen visa starts at Rs 2 million and some people would be willing to pay up to Rs 4 million. There are organized groups and small groups of people who smuggle thousands of men, women and children abroad every year, an FIA official said. It may be recalled that the FIA ​​Red Book lists about 112 'most wanted smugglers'. The Red Book lists the most wanted terrorists and criminals involved in drug trafficking, fraud, money laundering, human trafficking and other such illegal activities. Most of the wanted smugglers are from Central Punjab while a large number of these criminals are from Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Sources expressed concern that the smugglers had already sent several aspirants to the Shenzhen states through visa stickers.

The Italian embassy usually issues visas through FedEx, but due to code 19, it has closed the visa facility for more than a year. 

The Foreign Office confirmed receiving the complaint but did not name the embassy.

FO spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhry said in a statement that the theft of visa stickers had been reported to the Foreign Ministry by the foreign diplomatic mission in Islamabad, and immediately exchanged information with the concerned authorities to take appropriate action in this regard. Has gone.