Pakistan: Five CAA officials arrested for issuing fake licences
Islamabad: Pakistan's top investigation agency has arrested six people, including five Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) officials, for being allegedly involved in issuing fake licenses to pilots.
The arrests were made on Friday. The six people allegedly were mired in a scandal involving fraudulently obtained pilots' licences that came to light after a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) jet crashed last year, officials told The Express Tribune.
"Five Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) officials and a pilot have been arrested," the Federal Investigation Agency told the newspaper in a statement, adding that at least 40 pilots and eight officials from the CAA's licence branch have been named in three cases registered by the agency's corporate crime wing.
The arrested people included Additional Director Licensing Mehmood Hussain, Senior Superintendent Human Resource Abdul Raees, Senior Joint Director Faisal Manzoor, Senior Joint Director Asiful Haq and pilot Saqlain Ali.
"We have found a money trail in the investigation … each pilot paid a minimum of $312.50 for each paper they were supposed to appear in," Deputy Director FIA Corporate Crime Cell Abdul Rauf Shaikh told the newspaper.
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