Aug 31, 2012
Our Staff Reporter
LAHORE – Green Town Passport Office management with the help of local police launched an operation against the agents and touts sitting outside the office and arrested about 12 agents, said a passport officer on Thursday.
He said agents were involved in trapping people visiting the passport office on different pretext and bringing bad name to the passport office. Sources disclosed that after London Olympic visa scam the passport office management had become alert to keep eye on irrelevant people roaming around the office. An officer said these agents were involved in misleading the applicants only to mint money from them and some time they were doing this business with connivance of the staff of passport office.
They lure the visitors in the name of free consultancy and then demand money on various pretexts. Like delivery of passport is always a phenomenon in the passport office that due to some unknown reasons preparation of passports often get delayed from headquarter. These agents take advantage of the situation and cheat the people whose passport has been even prepared asking them that their passport is not ready yet. Then ask them that against payment of extra money their passport could be delivered immediately.
Similarly, people belonging to other districts than Lahore have to seek permission from Deputy Director Passport and Immigration to get their passport issued from Lahore. For this purpose agents trap the visitors outside the passport office and demand Rs 10 to 15 thousands for same purpose and they get his application signed by Deputy Director very easily.
Agent mafia also charge money from the visitors for the other change of name, change of address, preparation of passport on urgent basis, issuance of double passport and many other categories. These agents facilitate the people who don’t want to stand in long queues and charge money from them.
These agents get the token of such people after office time and call them after office time when office staff closed down the system to issue new tokens.
(The Nation)
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