RAWALPINDI: The airport entry pass of the personal assistant (PA) to a former president has been cancelled for allegedly trying to facilitate supermodel Ayyan Ali to smuggle over 0.5 million dollars out of the country on March 14.

According to a security source, the Airport Security Force (ASF) has been directed to confiscate the entry pass #03234. The pass authorised the accused to enter all areas of the airports in the country. The source said the move came about after he was spotted facilitating Ayyan when she arrived at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport to catch a flight for Dubai.

The 21-year-old supermodel, who had been staying in Dubai with her mother, was in Islamabad during the Senate elections.

As she put her suitcase in the scanning machine, the Airport Security Force (ASF) officials spotted a large sum of foreign currency notes inside. As a result, she was stopped from traveling abroad.

Shortly afterwards, the PA, who was accompanying the model, contacted the brother of a former federal minister who also reached the airport apparently to rescue her. The ex-minister’s brother also unsuccessfully tried to meet the customs officers.

Later, the former federal minister allegedly contacted the customs authorities and tried to convince them that Ayyan was innocent and should be allowed to travel abroad. But his efforts also proved unproductive. The customs authorities registered a case against the supermodel for trying to smuggle the amount out of the country and detained her.

The source said following the cancellation of the entry pass issued to the PA of the former president, all airports across the country were intimated.

On part of the investigation into the case against the model, the customs investigators will submit the challan to the trial court (customs special judge) on April 17.

The Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench has already dismissed the post-arrest bail application of the supermodel.

On the other hand, the investigators could not get call data from the model’s two mobile phones which were found blocked soon after she was detained at the airport.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2015

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