MULTAN: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Saturday deported 140 Pakistanis over their alleged involvement in criminal and illegal activities. According to details, the passengers had arrived in Saudi Arabia but were not allowed by the immigration authorities to proceed further after it emerged that they were allegedly involved in illegal activities. The passengers were then deported and were brought back to the Multan International Airport via Saudi Airline flight. The passengers later staged a protest over the deportation and also exchanged heated arguments with officials at the Multan airport. They demanded the government to take notice of the matter. In a similar action a year back, as many as 140 Pakistani immigrants, a majority of whom were ‘overstaying’, were deported by Saudi Arabia in September 2019. After the verification process and initial investigations, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) permitted 100 deportees to go to their homes, whereas the remaining nationals were shifted to anti-human smuggling cells for further investigation, said sources. The sources said that the rest of the 40 deportees would be released soon. TLTP
