The country’s law enforcement and spy agencies alleged that they possess sufficient evidence to legally proceed against a recently appointed Italian Embassy officer for facilitating human trafficking.
Per details, Ubaldo Ciaviglioli; the diplomat under suspicion, had been placed in Islamabad with the blessings of the Italian Ambassador in Pakistan. The Ambassador and Ubaldo have also served Italy in one of its missions in Eastern Europe.
Ubaldo was deployed at the Italian embassy in Pakistan in September 2012 as head of the consular section replacing Fabrizio Vignanelli, who was called back for involvement in “negative” activities. Ubaldo was posted in Bangkok before being granted an assignment in Pakistan.
Spy agencies’ of Pakistan claim that Ubaldo Ciaviglioli has close links with the human trafficking networks. Ubaldo is alleged to facilitate human trafficking in exchange for monetary gains. He has issued hundreds of visas during his four month tenure at Italian mission to Pakistan. Political and Diplomatic circles are concerned on the legality of issuance of such a large number of visas from the Italian embassy. On average, European embassies in Pakistan issue visas to only 15 percent of visa applicants. The agencies also accused travel agents named malik Rizwan who operates from Islamabad and Malik Naseer of Sialkot to be partners in crime of Ubaldo. Both the travel agents have been booked and their interrogations are underway.
It was learnt that Ubaldo Ciaviglioli would be declared as Persona Non Grata and would be told to leave Pakistan soon. When Pakistan today approached Italian Embassy for a comment on the hatching fiasco, the Italian embassy termed allegations as baseless. When the Italian mission was asked to comment on the issuance of 600 visas against 700 applications, the involvement of two travel agencies in faclititating trafficking that was being orchestrated from the Italian embassy and the reason for transferring Fabrizio Vignanelli out of Pakistan, the Consular, Embassy of Italy, and Islamabad replied that “This is just to inform that all allegations mentioned in your e-mail are groundless”.