KARACHI: Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials on Wednesday barred supermodel Ayyan Ali from flying abroad by stopping her on Karachi airport, DawnNews reported.

Ayyan, who is facing money laundering charges, had her name struck off Exit Control List (ECL) by Sindh High Court but was not allowed to board a Dubai-bound flight.

The officials maintained that interior ministry has so far not sent any notification to immigration authorities regarding the move, therefore they cannot allow her to fly abroad.

FIA's Assistant Director Departure Lubna Tiwana told Dawn that Ayyan arrived at airport and approached immigration officials for permission but when they cross-checked her details, her name was found on ECL.

On Tuesday, Sindh High Court directed the interior ministry to strike the name of model Ayyan Ali off the exit control list by Wednesday and allow her to travel abroad.

The model was arrested on March 14, 2015, at Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Islamabad while trying to travel abroad and carrying foreign currency worth $506,800 without permission of the State Bank of Pakistan and without any lawful excuse as to why she was taking the money abroad.

Related: Money laundering case against Ayyan rejected

On April 25 while hearing a contempt of court petition filed by Ayyan Ali, the Supreme Court had asked her to approach the SHC for agitating against placement of her name on the ECL for the second time, a few hours after its removal from the list.

Soon after the April 13 Supreme Court judgement of upholding the March 7 SHC order for removing the model’s name from the ECL, her name was removed from the list on April 11. But it was placed again on the list at the request of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

Now in the fresh petition filed through Advocate Faiz-ur-Rehman, the ministry pleaded that the June 2 high court order was not sustainable under the law since the name of the model had been placed on the list in accordance with ECL Rules 2010 and ECL policy notified on Sept 16, 2015.

Ayyan Ali had approached the court in December last year requesting the removal of her name from the ECL.

Her counsel maintained that having her name on the ECL was illegal as authorities had returned her passport.

According to Ayyan Ali, she was required to travel abroad for professional assignments and medical treatment, and since she had been released from jail on bail, her name should be struck off the ECL.

She said the authorities’ decision to disallow her from travelling abroad was a violation of her fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 18 of the Constitution.

Also Read: Ayyan claims she never meant to fly out with the money

A customs court in Nov 2015 indicted the model for attempting to smuggle more than half a million dollars in cash out of the country, to which she has pleaded not guilty.

The model was granted bail in July last year after spending around four months in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail - and after her judicial remand was extended at least 16 times.

The case against the model took a political turn when the airport entry pass of the personal assistant to a former president was cancelled for allegedly trying to facilitate Ayyan’s suspected attempt to smuggle money.