Get the latest news and updates from Dawn
ISLAMABAD: Federal Investigation Agency Director General Dr Usman Anwar on Monday said that offloading was a “lawful, preventive, and protective measure” used only where credible risk indicators exist.
“The objective is to facilitate lawful travel while protecting the country’s citizens, safeguarding human lives, countering organised criminal networks, and preserving the country’s international reputation,” the FIA chief said while talking to reporters here.
Dr Anwar said the FIA has intensified intelligence-led passenger screening at international airports, bringing illegal migration through Malawi to “zero” and cutting irregular flows to the EU by 64 per cent in early 2026. He said the measures target human smuggling, trafficking and visa abuse, and are meant to protect people from “exploitation, detention, deportation, trafficking, and loss of life on dangerous migration routes,” not to restrict genuine travel.
He said his agency has identified Belarus, Cyprus, Central Asian states and certain Eastern European transit corridors as routes “increasingly exploited by organised human smuggling networks” for onward illegal migration to Europe, he said. Malawi also emerged as a high-risk transit hub in 2025. Criminal facilitators, the DG said, lure vulnerable people with false promises of jobs, education, settlement and legal migration.
