A local court in Sukkur has sentenced three men each to five years in prison for running an illegal currency exchange, following a crackdown on illegal currency trade prompted by rupee’s slide which fell to a 22-month low of Rs284.97 against the US dollar last month.
On Friday, a local court in Sukkur, southern Pakistan, sentenced three individuals — Qamar Shahzad, Muhammad Zeeshan, and Zubair Asghar — to five years in prison and imposed a fine of Rs 1 million ($3,517) each, according to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
The FIA said that the convicts were involved in illegal currency exchange and that authorities had seized Rs 1 million, $20,700, and 147,000 Saudi riyals from them. The court ordered that the recovered funds be deposited into the national treasury.
On July 27, the FIA reported arresting five suspects in Balochistan for illegal currency exchange and money transfers near the Iranian and Afghan borders.
Pakistan maintains a multi-tiered currency market, with varying rates in the official interbank channel, the open market, and the unregulated “grey market,” where informal hawala dealers and unlicensed traders operate.
