ISLAMABAD: Five Pakistani nationals have been arrested for working in Israel in violation of the South Asian country’s laws, Pakistan’s top investigative agency said on Wednesday.
Pakistan does not recognize the state of Israel and calls for an independent Palestinian state based on “internationally agreed parameters” and the pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
Due to the absence of diplomatic ties, Pakistani nationals cannot travel to Israel, let alone work there. The Pakistani passport explicitly states that it is valid in all countries except Israel.
Federal Investigation Agency spokesperson Abdul Ghafoor told Arab News the operation to apprehend the five suspects was initiated last month after authorities picked up a remittances trail and found evidence that they had been working in Israel for years.
According to the FIA, they had been sending remittances to Pakistan through the Western Union money transfer service.
“The suspects were working as helpers and car washers in Tel Aviv,” the FIA spokesperson said. “They stayed in Tel Aviv for four to seven years.”
All the arrested suspects came from Mirpur Khas district in the southern Sindh province and have been booked for violating Pakistan’s Passport Act 1974 and the Emigration Ordinance 1979, according to the FIA.
As Pakistani passports are not valid in Israel, the suspects entered the country with the help of an Israeli agent.
“The suspects paid Rs300,000 to Rs400,000 ($1,090 to $1,453) per person to the Israeli agent,” the spokesperson said. “They would enter Israel through the Jordan airport on a Schengen visa.”
To enter Israel, the suspects would reach Jordan via Turkiye, Kenya and Sri Lanka. They would return to Pakistan from Jordan, transiting in Dubai.
The development comes months after reports of Pakistani goods being sold in Israeli markets stirred controversy in the South Asian country. The reports came after a New York-based group of American Jews said that the first shipment of “Pakistan-origin food products” had been offloaded in Israel in April.
The American Jewish Congress said that the transaction involved Pakistani-Jewish businessman Fishel Benkhald, based in Karachi, and three Israeli businessmen from Jerusalem and Haifa.
Benkhald also shared on Twitter a video of dates, dried fruit and spices he “exported” from Pakistan to the Israeli market.
The Pakistani government has denied that the South Asian country “exported” any such goods, reiterating that there had been “no change” in Islamabad’s policy regarding Tel Aviv.
