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Published 17 Feb, 2009 12:00am

Bail application withdrawn in fake passport case

ISLAMABAD, Feb 16: A man arrested in connection with issuance of fake passports to Pakistanis in the US on Monday withdrew his bail application filed with the IHC.

The IHC bench comprising Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Aslam and Justice Syed Qalb-I-Hassan disposed of the bail petition of Mohammad Naeem the accused after his lawyer Zulfiqar Abbas Naqvi asked the court to provide him the record of 300 passports that were allegedly issued from the Boston Consulate General of Pakistan. He said he would file the bail application afresh after changing the facts in light of the passports.

According to the details in this case, Ghulam Rasool an official of the Pakistan embassy in the US started issuing passports to the Pakistanis against the fee of $1000 per passport.

Mr Rasool deputed Imran Lalpuria his agent to negotiate with the people willing to be issued passports while the Lalpuria employed Muhammad Naeem as his assistant.

According to the Abdul Basir Qureshi Additional Prosecutor General (APG) NAB some bomb blasts took place in India in 2004 when Indian police found a Pakistani passport by the title name of Nazir Ali. After investigation it was found that the passport was a fake one and the photograph fixed over it was of another person Aziz Musa.

Later when the record of the passport was traced, it was found that the passport was issued from the Boston Consulate General of Pakistan APG said. American police then arrested Imran Lalpuria who is still in their custody while the Consulate General Ghulam Rasool and Muhammad Naeem managed to escape from the USA to Pakistan. Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) then arrested Muhammad Naeem while Ghulam Rasool, former consulate general, is still at large.

APG told the court that this was a very sensitive case and the FIA had not completed its investigations till yet. He produced before the court, record of three hundred passports that were issued from the Consulate General.

Upon which the defense lawyer Zulfiqar Abbas Naqvi prayed to the court to provide him with the record in this case for re-filing of the bail petition. Issuance of fake passports in the US.

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