Olympic visa scandal: Several arrested during crackdown

The joint investigation team of the FIA and NADRA after registering an FIR Tuesday launched a crackdown against those involved in the Olympic visa scandal and arrested six accused including five women here. FIA officials said those arrested were NADRA employees, while the main character of the case Abid Chaudhry has gone underground. Chaudhry’s family says he went into hiding due to threats to his life, adding that he will only appear if summoned by the court. The joint investigation team was constituted on the directive of the interior ministry, following the disclosure of the Olympic visa scandal in British newspaper ‘The Sun’. FIA sources said that an FIR has been registered against eighteen persons of which twelve were nominated and the arrest of six was confirmed. However, according to the latest information two employees of NADRA and four travel agents have already been arrested, while four employees Aslam James, Faheem, Talat and Ghaffar of Garden Town Passport office have been suspended and further six persons were arrested, which included Syed Wasif, Abbad Zaidi, Parvina Majeed, Rukhsana Maqbool, Sumera Tabassum, Azmi Khaleeq and Qudsia Idrees.