ISLAMABAD : Over 74,000 passengers were prevented from travelling abroad from Pakistani airports over the past three years, according to official data released by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
The document reveals that a total of 74,474 individuals were offloaded from international flights between 2023 and 2026. The FIA itself was responsible for 39,786 such cases, while various other agencies and institutions accounted for the remaining 34,688 offloadings.
Among the agencies involved, airlines offloaded 30,021 passengers, while 3,617 people were turned back at their own request for personal reasons. Customs, the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF), and the Airport Security Force (ASF) collectively offloaded 40 citizens during this period.
The primary reason for offloading, affecting 20,408 passengers, was the lack of required travel documents. Another 12,673 individuals were stopped due to low-profile status or suspicious travel plans, while 3,450 were barred because their names appeared on the stop list maintained by immigration authorities.
Other notable causes included wrong travel routes, which led to 505 offloadings, and the use of fake documents, which resulted in 281 passengers being denied boarding. Unsatisfactory travel history was cited in 176 cases, while 145 travellers were held for document verification purposes.
The data also highlighted that 258 underage passengers were offloaded, and 24 individuals travelling on visit visas were stopped after authorities suspected they were actually seeking employment abroad. All offloadings occurred at various airports across the country, with the FIA document confirming that the measures were taken to enforce immigration laws and prevent illegal travel.
