ISLAMABAD: Authorities are still in the process of retrieving deleted data from the mobile phones seized from model Ayyan Ali at the time of her arrest.

According to the interim challan submitted in court, the Model Customs Collectorate (MCC) Islamabad recovered the two mobile phones from her at Benazir Bhutto International Airport on March 14 when she was arrested for attempting to smuggle a large amount of foreign currency out of the country.

“The two phones were sent to the Intelligence Bureau (IB) on March 16 for decoding,” the interim challan stated.

Model travelled abroad 81 times in five years

IB has failed to retrieve the data from these phones and informed the MCC on March 3, in writing. On April 20, the cell phones were sent to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for decoding and the agency’s reply was awaited, the interim challan stated.

Customs officials quoting the interim challan said that investigators also sought the details of the money recovered from her possession from the Customs Intelligence on April 20.

“So far the reply is awaited,” the challan stated.

The interim challan of the accused was submitted on April 24 by the Investigation and Prosecution Branch of the MCC Islamabad in the sessions court Rawalpindi.

During the investigation, the travel history of the accused was sought from the FIA which revealed that between 2010 and 2015, the supermodel travelled abroad 81 times.

According to the interim challan, “On March 19, Ms Ali stated that the foreign currency recovered from her belonged to her and she had received this amount after selling files of five plots in Midway Commercial Bahria Town Karachi”.

On March 24, her counsel submitted documents pertaining to the sale of the plots on March 24 and according to these documents, the plots were sold for $506,800.

According to the interim challan, Ms Ali told the investigators that she came to Islamabad from Dubai, five days before her arrest to transfer the plots and receive payment from them. It added that the investigators issued notices to the buyer of the plots and the middleman, asking them to appear before the investigators but they have failed to do so.

On April 21, a written statement was submitted by the counsel for the middleman stating that he had paid foreign currency to the accused. The challan stated that according to the evidence, it is established that Ms Ali was involved in smuggling.

The challan stated that the foreign currency appeared to belong to the accused and she received this money from the middleman and the buyer and they had failed to appear before the investigators. The challan further stated that the accused cannot possess and transport this currency abroad without written permission, under the Customs Act and Foreign Exchange Regulatory Act 1947. It stated that the accused is guilty.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2015

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