Duo 'laundering' foreign currency worth Rs120 mln nabbed at Karachi airport

KARACHI: A money laundering bid has been foiled at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport after siblings were apprehended with a huge amount of foreign currency worth over Rs120 million, ARY News reported on Saturday.

A man-woman duo, who are siblings, was arrested in a joint raid conducted by the Airports Security Force (ASF) and Customs officials at Karachi airport. The officials seized 6,16,000 Euro (Rs121,524,892) from the baggage of the passengers ready to depart for Dubai via a foreign airline.

The arrested duo was identified as Obaid Siddiqui and Aqsa Siddiqui. It was learnt that the passengers placed a huge amount of the foreign currency in their suitcase which was caught by the ASF and Customs officials at the immigration counter.

Following the recovery of foreign currency, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against the arrested siblings and further investigation is underway.

Earlier on January 27, a Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) fire assistant had been arrested by the Airports Security Force (ASF) for laundering money at Islamabad International Airport.

A PCAA fire assistant had been arrested by ASF officials at the Islamabad airport for allegedly laundering money besides the recovery of foreign currency worth over Rs17.2 million including 70,000 euros, 56,500 riyals and 8,000 dirhams from his possession.

The PCAA spokesperson had said that Gulnawaz Abbasi has assisted two passengers to undergo rapid PCR tests for COVID-19 before their departure to Dubai.

The PCAA employee was arrested by ASF personnel when he was going from international air travel to the departure lounge. It was learnt that Gulnawaz Abbasi wanted to hand over the foreign currency to Dubai passengers.

The spokesperson had said that Abbasi was a contractual employee of the aviation authority who has been suspended following his criminal activity, adding that the accused misused his service pass to facilitate the culprits.