KARACHI, Sept 15: Customs personnel have claimed to have foiled an attempt to smuggle out foreign currency equivalent to about $3.82 million, (Rs225 million) and arrested two employees of an exchange company.

The seizure of the foreign currency, described as the highest ever in the country, were made at the Karachi airport on Tuesday. The seized amount included foreign currency equivalent $1,694,107 allowed by the SBP, but was seized because it was being exported by the same exchange company involved in the smuggling attempt, CBR chairman Mohammad Abdullah Yousaf said.

Briefing newsmen here on Wednesday at the Quaid-i-Azam International Airport, he said that the State Bank of Pakistan had allowed the export of foreign currencies other than US dollar and import of an equivalent amount in US dollars against it within 72 hours.

He said that on receiving information that an attempt might be made by an exchange company to smuggle out a huge quantity of foreign currency, in the garb of the SBP scheme, Collector of Customs (preventive) Mrs Musarat Jabeen constituted a team. A passenger, Mr Mehboob Kukaswadia, a resident of Clifton, who had boarded the flight EK-601 was asked to disembark.

His baggage was examined in the presence of SBP personnel who verified the presence of one bundle of assorted foreign currency with fake stamps and signatures. An examination of the whole baggage resulted in the recovery of currencies equivalent to $21,28,252 against the declared amount of $409,138, the CBR chairman added.

An employee of the same exchange company, M/s H. H. Exchange, Mohammad Amin, was nabbed from a subsequent Dubai-bound flight carrying a consignment of an equivalent amount of $1,694,107. A case under anti-smuggling provisions of the Customs Act 1969 has been registered and prosecution proceedings have been initiated.

According to the existing procedure, a foreign exchange company makes an application to the Customs authorities at Karachi Airport. This application bears the name and passport number of the passenger who will carry the currency on behalf of the company.

It also specifies the amount of currency as well as the number of bundles in which the currency is packed, the CBR chairman said, adding that the currency was sorted, packed, sealed and signed by the official of the National Bank of Pakistan and the State Bank of Pakistan. The customs official on duty checks and verifies the authorized signature and seal on the bundles and matches it with the documents and allows the export.