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ISLAMABAD: Around 1,000 Schengen visa stickers have reportedly been stolen from Italian Embassy in Islamabad.
The embassy has written a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs seeking assistance in investigating the theft of the visa stickers from its lockers on July 16. The embassy is located in the high-security Diplomatic Enclave in the federal capital.
The letters states that 1,000 Schengen visa stickers had been stolen from the embassy’s locker room and shared the serial numbers of the stolen stickers. “Italian authorities were conducting an internal investigation to fix the responsibility for the theft,” it added.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry asked the Ministry of Interior and Federal Investigation Agency to investigate the matter and “keep track of these visa stickers at all entry and exit points and report any seizure to this ministry.”
The Foreign Office apokesperson confirmed the incident and said the ministry shared information with the relevant departments for an “appropriate action” on the theft of Schengen visa stickers from the Italian embassy.
In response to a question, spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said the theft of visa stickers was reported to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by the foreign diplomatic mission, after which the information was immediately shared with the concerned departments. “The information was immediately shared with the concerned authorities for taking appropriate action in this regard,” he said.
What is Schengen visa?
A Schengen visa is a short-stay visa that allows a person to travel to any members of the Schengen area located within the European Union for up to 90 days for tourism or business purposes.
The Schengen visa is the most common visa for Europe. It enables its holder to enter, freely travel within, and leave the Schengen zone from any of the member countries. There are no border controls within the Schengen zone. Over 15 million people used their Schengen visa in 2019 to travel around Europe.
