KARACHI: According to a video and pictures circulating on social media, a group of over 130 Pakistanis travelling to Russia is being held at the Moscow airport for the past seven hours.
Television reports say the Pakistanis, who are actually part of a group of traders, were travelling to Russia for an exhibition when they were detained at the Moscow airport, along with a few people coming from other countries.
The man recording the group’s video said the Pakistanis landed in Moscow at about 2.30am local time and are being held in custody at the airport for the past eight hours.
“We have not been given any reason [for the detainment],” another man can be heard saying in the video.
The man added that the group was distributed into three different rooms, but because the rooms were not big enough, there was not enough space for everyone to fit in comfortably.
The video shows a number of people sitting, while several others can be seen lying on the floor.
Some Turkish nationals were also held by authorities, the man recording said, adding that they were later allow to leave.
Dawn.com is attempting to contact the Pakistan Foreign Office to obtain a comment on the situation.
This comes two days after terror attacks in Brussels, which killed 31 people and wounded 270, sending shockwaves across Europe.
Moscow is among the European capitals which beefed up security at their airports after the events in Brussels.
