Forty-seven Pakistanis deported from Turkey

Forty-seven Pakistanis have been deported from Turkey who were illegally residing in the country, on Monday.

The deportees arrived in Islamabad through a special aircraft en route Sharjah.

31 deportees were shifted to Anti-Human Trafficking Cell by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) while the remaining 16 were allowed to go home.

On January 23, Turkey had deported seven Pakistani nationals over attempting to enter the country illegally, however, they were sent back to Islamabad through a special flight.

Two among seven persons were arrested by the FIA officials at Islamabad airport.

Earlier in 2016, US national Barrett, who landed in Pakistan from Turkey, was deported from Lahore. Barrett was arrested in a joint raid by FIA and police officials at a guesthouse in the capital on Aug 6 after he returned to Pakistan despite being deported to the US in 2011.

The 33-year-old Alabama native had spent four years in Pakistan, where he married a local woman and had two children, before being sent out of the country after being detained near a sensitive military installation.

Barrett claimed that he came back to Pakistan to explore the possibility of permanently moving here, adding that he was cleared of all the charges levelled against him by the apex court.

He had been insisting that his 2016 visit to Pakistan was legal.