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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested five suspects involved in illegal currency exchange and transfer of money, the agency said on Sunday, amid a widening crackdown on black market currency traders.

The development comes days after the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s powerful military-run spy agency, held a meeting in Islamabad with senior officials from currency exchange companies, amid growing concern over the rupee’s depreciation, which fell to a 22-month low of Rs284.97 against the US dollar earlier this week.

Maj. Gen. Faisal Naseer, a deputy chief of the ISI, chaired the session, according to Malik Bostan, who attended the discussion and is the chairman of the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP), told Arab News. The FIA had begun raiding informal, unregulated money transfer, or ‘hundi’ and ‘hawala,’ operators and currency smuggling networks.

In a statement on Sunday, the agency said it was tightening the noose around networks involved currency smuggling and had conducted major operations in the southwestern Balochistan province that border Iran and Afghanistan.

“Five suspects involved in hawala, hundi and illegal currency exchange have been arrested,” the FIA said in a statement. “The suspects were arrested in raids in different areas of Quetta and Chaman.”

Pakistan operates a multi-tiered currency market, with rates diverging between the official interbank channel, the open market, and an unregulated “grey market” where many traders and informal hawala dealers operate.

Burdened by over $58 billion in imports in the last fiscal year, Pakistan faces severe inflationary pressure whenever the dollar strengthens. The rupee has lost 2 percent of its value since January, despite Pakistan’s current account recording a surplus of $2.1 billion, according to central bank data.

During the raids in Balochistan, the FIA said, officials seized 684,000 Pakistani rupees, 230.5 million Iranian rials, more than 135,000 Afghanis, 700 US dollars, 200 Saudi riyals and 150 Australian dollars.

“Cheque books, hawala-hundi receipts and bank deposit slips were also recovered from the suspects,” it said.

“The accused were involved in currency exchange without a license. They could not give a satisfactory answer to the authorities regarding the recovered currency.”

The agency said it was further investigating the arrested suspects.

ISLAMABAD: Local administration in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad has seized around 1,000 kilograms of donkey meat from an illegal slaughterhouse and arrested a “foreign national,” officials said on Sunday.

The seizure was made during a joint raid by the Islamabad Food Authority (IFA), local police and the Islamabad district administration on a farmhouse in Tarnol area, according to the IFA.

Fifty live donkeys were also recovered from the site and an IFA team was destroying the meat under the supervision of Deputy Director Dr. Tahira Siddique.

Police have lodged a case against the arrested foreign national, who had been running the operation, and are looking for his local facilitators.

“A foreign national was arrested at the site which has been sealed and an investigation is underway,” Muhammad Nasir Butt, a spokesperson for the Islamabad district administration, told Arab News.

“We will conduct further raids as per the findings of the investigation and efforts are also underway to trace local individuals involved.”

Butt said the meat had been packed for “export to a neighboring country.”

“So far, we have not found any traces of meat being used in the local restaurants, but administration is investigating the matter from multiple angles,” he added.

According to a police report seen by Arab News, the farmhouse had no authorization to process donkey meat or export live donkeys.

“Due to the absence of records for [processing] haram meat, and on the basis of its supply and sale, legal action shall be taken against concerned individuals under Sections 11, 12, 13, and 14 of the Islamabad Capital Territory Food Safety Act, 2021,” the report said.

Pakistan is frequently listed among countries with the highest number of donkey populations worldwide. The country’s donkey population rose to 6 million in fiscal year 2024-25, which ended in June, compared to 5.9 million in 2023–24, according to the latest economic survey.

In May this year, Pakistan Customs had foiled an attempt to smuggle donkey hides worth approximately Rs80 million (around $283,800) to China. The staff deployed on the Risk Management Profiling System of the Karachi Customs

Collectorate detected a container number SEGU-3154225 cleared from the South Asia Pakistan Port (SAPT) terminal in Karachi, whose export documents showed 285 packages of leather products were being sent to China.

The animal’s meat and hides are quite popular in China. Gelatin derived from donkey hides is highly sought after in China for its use in Ejiao, a traditional medicinal remedy. Several Chinese eateries sell donkey meat and burgers for consumption.

Dr. Siddique, who was part of the team that raided the farmhouse, said the availability of safe and quality food in Islamabad was the top priority of the IFA.

“We are enforcing a zero-tolerance policy against those who endanger public health,” she was quoted as saying by the IFA.