QUETTA: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested a currency dealer involved in money laundering through the hawala system and seized large amounts of local and foreign banknotes, the agency’s officials said on Friday.

After receiving information about illegal currency business, an FIA team headed by Assistant Director Muzammil Jatoi conducted a raid in Quetta’s Yazdan Khan Road area near Sarai Namak Chowk and arrested the suspect.

Articles recovered from the currency dealer included two mobile phones, US currency worth $4,104, banknotes worth 5,000 Afghanis, and Rs506,000, besides different sums in euros, Australian dollars and Iranian rials, said Mr Jatoi, who was interrogating the accused.

Hawala, which means “transfer” in Arabic and Farsi, is widely used in parts of South Asia and the Middle East for sending and receiving remittances and other payments. The payment system relies on a trusted network of transfer agents to make payments outside the banking system.

The FIA official said the accused, identified as Muhammad Hashim, had failed to give a satisfactory reply during the investigation about the possession of such a huge amount of currency during the investigation.

An FIR has been registered against the accused and the criminal record shows that he was already on bail in FIR No 49/2021 registered in Quetta. The FIA arrested a Balochistan government official last week who was allegedly involved in money laundering on a large scale and had been absconding for a long time.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2022