A Pakistani flight attendant who disappeared after arriving in Canada earlier this year has been arrested in Toronto while carrying multiple passports. Her arrest comes on the heels of at least eight flight attendants disappearing in Toronto after landing on flights from Pakistan International Airlines.
According to Pakistani news channel ARY News, Canadian authorities arrested flight attendant Hina Sani on March 28, more than a month after she arrived on Pakistan International Airlines flight PK789 from Lahore Allam Iqbal International Airport, landing at Toronto Pearson Airport.
Upon her arrest, immigration authorities discovered several passports belonging to different individuals in Sani’s luggage.
Pakistan International Airlines confirmed its knowledge of the arrest and said it is in contact with Canadian immigration.
Sani’s entry into Canada with multiple passports may be linked to a similar incident in recent months related to PIA flight attendants, with two having gone missing after landing in Toronto on Pakistan International Airlines flights this year.
Flight attendant Maryam Raza had been aboard Flight PK 782, which flew from Islamabad International Airport to Pearson International Airport in late February.
She was reported missing after she didn’t show up for the scheduled return flight from Pearson back to Karachi.
A note was discovered in her hotel room which read “Shukria PIA,” in Urdu, which translates to, “Thank you, PIA.”
Similarly, a PIA flight attendant went missing in Toronto only a month before that, with two more incidents last December.
Authorities also know of at least five other disappearances of PIA flight attendants after landing at Pearson.
Some reports suggest the disappearances may be connected to flight crews having low salaries and the airline’s plan to become privatized.
However, PIA denies such claims, instead laying the blame on the Trudeau government and its lax asylum policies.
Similar incidents were reported by PIA in Paris and other parts of Europe over the past several years, beginning as early as 2018.
A PIA spokesperson argued that these disappearances are not an issue exclusive to that airline, saying that flight crew members seeking asylum “are common throughout South Asia and other developing countries.”
However, the spokesperson did add that PIA will be making adjustments to address this issue, including raising its minimum wage for crew members flying to Canada in addition to creating a special investigation unit for these kinds of disappearances.
