The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested a suspect and registered a case against four people accused of running an illegal hawala-hundi network disguised as a university fee transfer service, officials said.
The Currency Banking Circle (CBC) of FIA in Islamabad registered case No. 42/2025 after completing an inquiry that began in 2024. The case invokes Section 406 of the Pakistan Penal Code along with Sections 5 and 23 of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) 1947, as amended in 2020.
One of the accused, Muhammad Mubashir, son of Muhammad Shabbir, has been arrested. He is named alongside three other suspects, Hamza Faisal, Abid Hussain Butt and Uzair Qureshi, in the FIR.
According to the FIA, the four suspects jointly received Rs5.62 million from Asad Ali, a resident of Bahria Town, Rawalpindi, who wanted the money sent as tuition fees for his son, Shabih-ul-Hasan, enrolled at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom.
Ali had been assured the payment would go through official banking channels. Investigators found instead that the funds were routed through an illegal hawala-hundi network rather than the authorised banking system.
When the finance department of Lancaster University requested details of the person who had deposited the fee, the suspects were unable to provide the information. The university subsequently returned the funds to an unidentified source in April 2024.
The case has been assigned to FIA Sub-Inspector Hassan, and further proceedings against the suspects are ongoing.
