KARACHI: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Tuesday claimed to have arrested two Pakistani citizens — a man and a woman — allegedly involved in an organised beggary network they ran in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

FIA Deputy Director-Immigration Shahzad Akbar told Dawn that the two passengers, Muhammad Jameel and Gudia Bibi, residents of Faisalabad, had arrived from the KSA on Pakistani passports as routine passengers at Karachi airport.

The young man was physically challenged and was confined to a wheelchair.

During interrogation, they disclosed that they had travelled from Pakistan through an agent, Kashmir Ali, resident of Jhelum, on Umrah visas.

Further questioning revealed that both were part of an “organised beggary network operating in KSA, where the collected money was being transferred through hawala/hundi to an agent currently residing in Canada”.

The senior officer said that the held suspects identified another facilitator, Iftikhar, alias Wakeel, who is allegedly running this transnational network and sending people to different countries for beggary.

The passengers also shared bank account details where the money was being routed.

Mr Akbar said multiple receipts and voice notes recovered from their mobile phones corroborated the organised criminal activity.

Accordingly, both the passengers have been detained and referred to the Anti-Human Trafficking Circle Karachi for further interrogation.

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2026