LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested more than 70 suspects allegedly involved in illegal money transaction (hundi/hawala) business in Lahore and elsewhere during the last three months.

“In the ongoing crackdown against illegal hundi/hawala business we have arrested 73 people in 59 raids (conducted) in Lahore, Gujranwala, Sahiwal, Chichawatni and Toba Tek Singh during the last three months. We have also recovered Rs.137.1 million from them,” FIA Corporate Crime Circle Deputy Director Jamil Ahmad Khan Mayo told Dawn on Sunday.

He said the hawala/hundi business thrived in the country, especially after the increase in withholding tax on bank transactions. “However, the FIA’s action has managed to check this trend making it difficult for the people to do hundi/hawala in the garb of some other business.

Mr Mayo claimed that after FIA’s action the rupee gained against the US dollar. “We are extending crackdown to other parts of the province and will continue till this menace is rooted out,” he added.

The suspects had been booked under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act 1947 under which they faced imprisonment up to three years. They were involved in transferring money to Afghanistan, China and Middle East and within the country illegally.

The FIA said it had filed challan of most of the suspects in the court. The agency is also monitoring some money changers suspected of doing hundi/hawala business under legal cover.

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2017