Immigration scam cracked, says Pakistan

KARACHI, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistani officials say they have broken up an illegal immigration scheme that utilized fake Chinese diplomatic passports to funnel Chinese nationals through central Asia and on to Europe.

Pakistani police arrested 21 Chinese following a raid in an affluent section of Karachi and charged them with illegal migration.

They were being held in a Karachi prison. The group included 13 women and eight men.

All were said to be in their 20s or 30s and were believed to be seeking domestic service jobs.

One of the men was described as a sub-agent, representing an agent in China who solicited the fake passports for $5,000 each.

The raid also turned up seals and stamps from a number of Asian nations that were used to mark passports to give the appearance that the holder was well-traveled.

Pakistani immigration officials said the operation was very sophisticated and was able to produce high quality fake passports and visas.

A senior Chinese official from the embassy in Karachi said the Chinese government was investigating how the group obtained its diplomatic passports.