Court remands 11 in fake apostille case

A local court on Tuesday handed over 11 suspects arrested in a case involving fake apostille stickers and stamps to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for another four days of physical remand. Judicial Magistrate Shaista Khan Kundi heard the case after FIA officials produced the suspects before the court and sought a further 14-day physical remand. The investigation officer (IO) told the court that the FIA Anti-Corruption Circle conducted a major raid in the basement of F&F Plaza in Aabpara, where it allegedly found fake verification stickers, degrees, and fraudulent receipts, and arrested several suspects. Two Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials, Samiullah and Qaiser Riaz, an assistant director of attestation, are among those arrested. The IO said criminal chats, details of alleged bribe payments and fake receipts had been recovered from the suspects' mobile phones. The FIA also recovered educational certificates and fake attestation material from courier services and the offices of various agents.