FIA Cracks Down on Unlawful Passenger Offloading at Pakistani Airports: 85 Officials Punished, 142 Complaints Filed

Islamabad i — May 13, 2026
A damning internal report by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has exposed widespread misuse of authority by immigration officials at Pakistan’s major international airports, revealing that hundreds of passengers were offloaded during 2025-26 — with dozens of cases involving abuse of power, misconduct, and alleged extortion.
According to the report, complaints were filed against 142 FIA officers out of hundreds of offloading incidents, resulting in strict punitive action against 85 officials for misuse of authority. Islamabad International Airport topped the list with 62 complaints, followed by Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport with 54 and Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport with 32.
The FIA stated that the majority of offloading cases were based on legitimate grounds — including insufficient funds, absence of hotel bookings, incomplete travel documents, missing protector stamps, lack of OK-to-Board certificates, and incomplete educational documents — and were declared procedurally valid upon review.
However, several cases revealed serious irregularities. A fact-finding inquiry has been initiated at Karachi Airport following complaints of illegal monetary demands by immigration staff. Investigations have been ordered at Islamabad and Peshawar airports over offloading complaints, while the Sialkot Airport case has been assigned to the Gujranwala Zone for a fact-finding probe. A complaint involving the offloading and alleged mistreatment of a female passenger at Islamabad Airport has been forwarded to the Additional Director General of Immigration.
The FIA Lahore Zone has submitted a comprehensive report to the Complaint Cell, Federal Ombudsman, and aviation authorities. In some instances, complainants later withdrew their complaints, the report noted.
The revelations have raised serious questions about the conduct of immigration personnel at Pakistan’s airports and are likely to intensify calls for structural reforms in the FIA’s immigration wing.