750 deported from Oman reach Karachi

KARACHI: A cargo ship on Wednesday brought home 758 Pakistanis deported from Oman for entering the country illegally and working without permission, an official said.

The ship arrived in Karachi after setting sail two days ago from Muscat, said Federal Investigation Agency inspector Abdul Sattar Mansoori. The Ansar Burney Welfare Trust, a Pakistani charity helping to repatriate the deportees, gave food and plastic shoes to some of the men, trust spokesman Sarim Burney said.

Mansoori said that the deportees would be released after brief questioning. Hundreds of Pakistanis travel to the oil-rich countries in the Middle East to find work, many of them paying smugglers to help them reach there, often without visas. Sarim said last month that some 36,000 Pakistanis were deported from Oman since June 2003. ap

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