FIA Lahore Arrests Illegal Currency Dealer

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) reported the arrest of an individual allegedly involved in illicit currency dealings (hawala/hundi) in Lahore. The arrest was made by the Lahore circle of the FIA.

This action follows a court decision where three individuals were sentenced to five years in prison and fined Rs1 million each for their involvement in illegal foreign exchange activities.

In the past two weeks, law enforcement agencies, including the FIA, have apprehended a total of four individuals involved in illegal currency operations, marking an intensification of efforts to combat such activities.

These intensified efforts are aimed at bolstering the value of the Pakistani rupee against the US dollar and other major global currencies.

According to the FIA’s statement, the suspect was apprehended from Azam Cloth Market in Lahore by the FIA Corporate Crime Circle Lahore. This circle has increased its operations against unlawful currency dealers and hawala/hundi operators.

The arrested individual has been identified as Gul Ameer, a resident of Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

During the operation, the FIA recovered Rs6.4 million in Pakistani currency. Authorities also seized “hawala/hundi receipts and other digital evidence.”

The suspect is currently in custody, and an investigation is underway. Authorities are actively pursuing the arrest of the suspect’s accomplices.

Earlier, a Sukkur court sentenced three unlawful currency dealers to five years imprisonment and imposed fines of Rs1 million each. The convicted individuals include Qamar Shehzad, Muhammad Zeeshan, and Zubair Asghar. The case against them was registered by the FIA Composite Circle Sukkur.

The crackdown has contributed to the strengthening of the domestic currency against the US dollar and other currencies in both inter-bank and open markets.

Data from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) indicates that the rupee has appreciated by Rs2.4 against the US dollar since the crackdown began on July 23, 2025, closing at Rs282.5/$ in the inter-bank market on Friday, compared to Rs284.9/$ on July 22, 2025.

Prior to this, the rupee had depreciated by nearly Rs3 against the dollar in the preceding seven weeks, reaching Rs284.9/$ on July 22, 2025, from its position on June 1, 2025.

On July 23, the chairman of the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP), Malik Muhammad Bostan, stated that he had led a delegation of currency dealers to the Director General of Counter Intelligence (DGC) at the Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan (ISI) in Islamabad.

According to a statement from ECAP, Bostan informed the DGC about the smuggling of currency to Iran and Afghanistan. He was quoted as saying that the supply of dollars to legal currency dealers was decreasing due to higher black market rates.

The ECAP reported that General Faisal Naseer [DGC] immediately instructed law enforcement agencies to take action against currency smugglers and make arrests.