Foreign currency worth Rs10m recovered from Sukkur-Karachi bus

SUKKUR: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has confiscated a huge sum of foreign currency worth over Rs1,035,000 from an inter-city passenger bus travelling from Sukkur to Karachi, ARY News reported on Sunday.

The FIA Sukkur Deputy Director Hafeez Chachar told the media that many foreign and local currencies were recovered from an inter-city passenger bus during a raid.

Two accused persons were arrested in the raid. The recovered currencies include 147,000 Saudi riyals (SAR), 20,000 US dollars (USD) and 70 million Pakistani rupees.

The foreign currencies worth over Rs1,035,000 were seized in the action, Hafeez Chachar said. The recovered money was going to be used in hawala-hundi business, he claimed.

Crackdowns on hawala-hundi businesses

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) rounded up 711 accused allegedly involved in the businesses of the hawala-hundi and illegal currency exchange across Pakistan during the past 11 months.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has stepped up its crackdown on elements involved in hawala-hundi and illegal currency exchange.

According to the FIA spokesperson, some 499 raids were conducted against the elements involved in the illegal foreign exchange and hundi during the ongoing year, in which 500 cases were registered and 711 accused were arrested.

However, the FIA teams have completed some 61 inquiries during this period. During the current year, 333 suspects were arrested in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) zone, 79 in Lahore zone, 24 in Gujranwala zone, 67 in Faisalabad zone, and 53 in the Multan zone.

Meanwhile, some 26 accused were arrested in the Islamabad zone, 77 in Karachi zone, 32 in Hyderabad zone and 20 in Balochistan zone.

Domestic and foreign currency worth more than Rs 799,060 US dollars and other foreign currency worth more than Rs 380 million was also part of it.

The recovered money also included over Rs3.67 billion, whereas, during the nationwide raids, more than 28 plazas, markets and shops were also sealed.

The support of law enforcement agencies (LEAs) was also obtained for the arrest of the accused.

All the resources were being employed to ensure punitive action against the hundi and illegal currency exchange traders, whereas, strict punishment would be given against the elements involved in the smuggling of foreign currency, he added.