Customs officials have made important headway into the investigation against the alleged foreign currency smuggler arrested from Islamabad airport on Saturday.
Majid Khan, a passenger from Abbottabad was arrested for carrying a hefty amount of foreign and local currency.Airport security Force official was providing him shelter at airport,as alleged by customs officers
Extending the scope of investigation into the case, the officials claimed that the suspect had visited foreign countries which includes several Middle Eastern countries, South Africa and Sierra Leone for over 50 times.
Officials said the suspect used the different airports for arrival and departure from the country, adding that CCTV footage will also be obtained to identify Airport Security Force (ASF) personnel who helped the accused carrying a hefty amount of foreign currency into the plane.
According to initial findings, Khan belonged to an oragnised money laundering network and is also involved in gold and mobile phone smuggling, officials claimed.
Earlier on Saturday, Customs officials foiled an attempt to smuggle foreign currency worth millions in Pakistani rupees from the new Islamabad international airport.
The suspect successfully cleared all scanning counters to board flight PK-233 for Dubai along with his hand-carry luggage.
The custom officials, who had prior intelligence regarding the currency smuggling plot and wanted to identify the suspect’s facilitators, only sprang into action when Khan was comfortably sitting in the plane, awaiting take-off.
However, customs inspector Ijaz Ahmed, who was on his way to take the suspect into custody, was intercepted by an ASF official in the passenger bridge, leading to an altercation between the two.
The Airport Security Force official also snatched Ahmed’s boarding pass; upon which, a high-ranking customs officer intervened and took the passenger into custody along with his luggage.
According to customs officials, a total of 109,110 UAE Dirhams, 2,000 Qatari riyals and some Pakistani currency amounting to PKR4.5 million was recovered from the suspect’s possession.
Travellers are only allowed to carry $10,000 or equivalent currency when leaving Pakistan.
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smuggling