Hawala suspect remanded in FIA custody for three more days

A judicial magistrate on Thursday remanded a man allegedly involved in the hawala/hundi business in the custody of the Federal Investigation Agency for three more days for questioning.

The FIA presented Zahoor Ahmed before District West judicial magistrate Piyar Ali Khoso, contending that the interrogation with the suspect had not yet been completed and his custody was required.

According to the FIR, FIA officials, acting on a tip-off, had raided a shoes shop at Pashtun Market in Banaras on March 22 and after confirming the lead through recoveries had taken the suspect into custody.

The report added that several signed, blank and cancelled checks, deposit slips, ledgers, diaries and stamps were found on the suspect which he could not justify and accepted that he and Haji Nida Muhammad were running the illegal business of sending money out of the country without banking channels.

The initial investigation shows that the suspects prima facie did hawala/hundi transactions of more than Rs120 million. Investigation officer Inspector Zahid Hussain Bukhari asked the court to extend the suspect’s remand until April 1.

He submitted that the recovered documentary evidences were to be cross-checked with the accused for the identification of the beneficiaries of the illegal transactions. He added that the other suspect was also required to be arrested with the help of Ahmed.

The court approved the plea and directed the IO to bring a progress report to the next hearing. The case was registered under sections 4(1)5/23 of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act 1947 read with section 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code 1860 and section 512 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 at the FIA Commercial Banks Circle Karachi.