The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested four people, including two officials of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), over their alleged role in a network that helped Afghan nationals obtain fraudulent Pakistani identity documents.

The arrests followed a joint intelligence-led operation carried out by the FIA's Anti-Corruption Circle with other law enforcement agencies on July 22, 2026, the agency said in a statement. Those detained were identified as NADRA Assistant Director Inam-ul-Haq, Deputy Assistant Director Fayyaz Ahmed, a NADRA watchman named Junaid Ahmed, and a private agent, Muhammad Umar Shah.

According to the FIA, the suspects are accused of being part of an alleged network that facilitated the issuance of Pakistani identity documents and Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs) to Afghan nationals on the basis of forged records. Officials said important official records and other evidence were seized during the operation.

The agency said it had widened the scope of its investigation and expected further arrests, adding that all facilitators and key figures linked to the network would be brought to justice. In its statement, the FIA also said initial evidence gathered during the probe indicated the organised network may have links to certain terrorist elements — a claim that remains under investigation.

The case carries an unusual wrinkle. Deputy Assistant Director Fayyaz Ahmed had earlier been reported missing: Karachi police had registered a missing-person complaint filed by his father, who said his son had disappeared on the evening of July 20 and voiced fears that he had been abducted by unknown individuals. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan had expressed concern over the case and pressed the Sindh government to locate him, before he surfaced two days later among those named as arrested by the FIA.

The action is the latest in a widening series of FIA operations against officials accused of issuing identity documents to foreign nationals. In recent months the agency has detained NADRA staff in Karachi, Chakwal and Charsadda over similar allegations, and has sought the records of multiple officials as part of an expanding inquiry.

The crackdown comes against the backdrop of the government's Illegal Foreigners' Repatriation Plan, launched in 2023, under which large numbers of Afghan nationals have been sent back to Afghanistan, with fresh orders issued in 2025 for the arrest of those residing in the country illegally.

The FIA said legal proceedings against the arrested suspects were under way and that investigations into the alleged network were continuing.