RAWALPINDI: Ayyan Ali told investigators on Wednesday she never meant to fly out of the country with the foreign currency found in her luggage. She claimed her brother, who was coming from Dubai on the same flight she planned to board, was meant to take the money from her at the airport and then fly to Karachi with it.

On Wednesday, Supermodel Ayyan Ali, who has been languishing in Central Jail Adiala for attempting to smuggle over $500,000 out of the country, was questioned for a second time by customs investigators.

Read: LHC rejects Ayyan Ali's bail plea in money laundering case

A four-member investigation team from the customs department, headed by Superintendant Zargam Dil, visited the model at Adiala Jail at 11am on Wednesday morning.

The team also included Superintendent Saeed Khan, Inspector Mohammad Saleem and Woman Inspector Uzma Nafees. The investigators questioned the supermodel for over two hours and left the jail at about 1:30pm.

According to a source, the investigators asked the supermodel various questions regarding the source of the money she was carrying in her suitcase on the day of the arrest. The investigators recorded her statement, in which she largely stuck to her first statement regarding the source of the money, stating she had sold five files for residential plots.

However, she also told investigators she never meant to fly out of the country with the money but planned to give it to her brother who was coming from Dubai.

One of Ms Ali’s lawyers told Dawn, their client was waiting for her brother, outside the Rawal Lounge, with the suitcase containing the money. Her brother was arriving from Dubai and she planned to give the money to him. She claimed her brother planned to fly to Karachi with the money and invest the money in real estate.

According to sources, Ms Ali narrated the same story to the investigators regarding the events on the day of her arrest.

Meanwhile, the Airport Security Force (ASF) will be handing over footage from the CCTV cameras, installed at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport, to the investigators on Thursday.

Last week, the investigators requested the ASF to hand over the footage from the CCTV cameras at Rawal Lounge, from the day Ms Ali was arrested.

The ASF forwarded the written request to the ASF headquarters in Karachi. Following approval from the headquarters, the ASF informed the customs investigators that the footage will be shared on Thursday to complete the challan in the case.

According to a source, the investigators will be looking at the footage to ascertain who facilitated Ms Ali on the day of her arrest and attempted to prevent her from being taken into custody.

Senior officials in the ASF not only agreed to provide the footage to the investigators but also told investigators the ASF staff members who had found the money in the suitcase may have their statements recorded as witnesses. The staff members include a woman security guard and a machine operator among others.

According to sources in the ASF, an influential person had tried his best to see the supermodel while she was detained at the Rawal Lounge by the customs investigators. However, he was not allowed to go inside the lounge as he did not have a security pass.

The source said Ms Ali’s arrival at the Rawal Lounge, accompanied by a PA to an ex-president who was carrying the suitcase containing the money, is clearly visible in the CCTV footage.

The PA can also be seen standing next to the supermodel while her bags being put through the scanners as he had a valid security pass which allowed him to enter areas of all airports, across the country, the source said.

The source said the video footage would help the customs investigators in identifying those who facilitated Ms Ali on the day of the arrest and complete the challan in the money laundering case.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2015

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