Two held for money laundering

Two suspects involved in the illegal business of Hawala and Hundi were arrested on Thursday and more than Rs22 million was seized from them.

According to a spokesperson of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), credible information was received that Muhammad Noman Khan and Muhammad Tanvir were engaged in Hawala and Hundi and working at a currency exchange shop on Sharea Faisal.

It was further learnt that the suspects in connivance with other accomplices were dealing in the exchange of foreign currencies as well as the illegal business of transfer of money through Hawala and Hundi such as inward and outward remittances without using the legal channel of banks in violation of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) I947, causing a loss to the government exchequer.

The spokesperson added that an FIA team immediately raided the shop and recovered a huge quantity of incriminating material, foreign and Pakistani currency notes, printed emails pertaining to TTs/MTs, mobiles phones containing audio recordings and text messages of suspected persons related to Hundi/Hawala business, ledger books, a laptop and prize bonds of different denominations of Pakistani rupees. A total of Rs22,639,483 was recovered, including foreign currency notes worth Rs3,181,623.

He said the offence was punishable under Sections 4/5/8/23 FERA read with Section 3/4 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2010, hence, an FIR No. 13/20l8 has been registered against the two suspects.