Islamabad High Court on Monday dismissed bail plea of Mohammad Naeem involved in issuance of some 300 fake passports by a former Consulate General to the United States. Additional Prosecutor General NAB, Abdul Baseer Qureshi apprised the division bench of Chief Justice Sardar Mohammad Aslam and Justice Syed Qalb e Hassan during hearing of bail plea of Muhammad Naeem.
After hearing arguments, the bench dismissed the bail plea of Mohammad Naeem. Qureshi apprised the court that a reference was being prepared against former Consulate General Ghulam Rasool Baloch, which would be filed within 15 days and he would be arrested soon.
In 2004, a Pakistan consulate was established in Houston, US where Ghulam Rasool Baloch was designated as Consulate General. Baloch arranged the consulate building 25 kilometers away from the place where different embassies of various countries were located, he added.
To facilitate the Pakistani community seeking passports, he nominated Imran Lalpuria as an agent, who was further assisted by Mohammad Naeem, he added. Qureshi said that they charged $1,000 per passport. "The matter was unearthed after a bomb blast in India in which the Indian authorities found a passport bearing Pakistani nationality and the hotel record subsequently revealed that the passport was issued in Houston," he added.
He said during an investigation conducted by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the US, Imran Lalpuria admitted that he had issued a fake passport to one Nazar Ali by using picture and particulars of another person Aziz Moosa after accepting a sum of $2,500.
Imran Lalpuria was prosecuted in the US and was punished by a court there while Mohammad Naeem's bail plea had already been rejected here by Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench, he added. Additional Prosecutor General said that Tariq Bhatti, a NAB officer completed the investigation in which these accused have been found involved.