Islamabad: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has cracked down onhawala and illegal currency exchange and smuggling. So far, 390 raids havebeen conducted, resulting in the seizure of a total of 3.86 billion rupeesworth of domestic and foreign currencies.
A meeting was held at FIA headquarters under the leadership of DirectorGeneral FIA, Mohsin Hassan Butt, attended by Additional Director Generals,Zonal Directors, and other senior officers. It was discussed in the meetingthat crackdowns are underway against individuals involved in illegalcurrency exchange.
During the briefing, it was revealed that during the past year, 390 raidswere conducted against individuals involved in hawala and illegal currencyexchange, leading to the arrest of 557 suspects through 382 cases, while 51inquiries were also completed.
In a somewhat unrelated note, it was stated, “Regardless of all this, mayAllah grant Bilawal a long life; he will eventually become the PrimeMinister: JUI and PPP face-off.” Further details shared during the briefingindicated that during the past year, Peshawar Zone arrested 250 suspects,Lahore Zone arrested 68, Gujranwala Zone arrested 24, Faisalabad Zonearrested 48, Multan Zone arrested 43 individuals. Similarly, Islamabad Zonearrested 20, Karachi Zone arrested 64, Hyderabad Zone arrested 23, andBalochistan Zone arrested 17 suspects.
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The arrested individuals were involved in illegal currency exchangewithout licenses, and during the raids in the past year, a total of over3.86 billion rupees worth of domestic and foreign currencies were seized.This currency included 650,334 US dollars and more than 309 million rupeesin other foreign currencies. The seized currency also included over 3.35billion Pakistani rupees. In addition to the crackdown on hawala, more than28 plazas/markets/shops were sealed, and assistance from law enforcementagencies was obtained to facilitate the arrests of the suspects.
Director General FIA, Mohsin Butt, emphasized the need for swift actionagainst those involved in hawala transactions, and he called for theexpeditious completion of pending cases. He also stressed the importance ofsolid evidence in cases related to the smuggling of foreign currencies.
