The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Pakistan has registered a case against four people accused of operating an illegal hawala-hundi network under the guise of transferring university fees to the UK.
The FIA’s Currency Banking Circle (CBC) in Islamabad registered case No. 42/2025 after completing an inquiry launched in 2024. The case was filed under Section 406 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Sections 5 and 23 of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) 1947, as amended in 2020.
The FIA said it had arrested one of the suspects, Muhammad Mubashir, son of Muhammad Shabbir.
According to the FIA, the suspects, including Hamza Faisal, Abid Hussain Butt, Uzair Qureshi and Muhammad Mubashir, were allegedly acting together to receive Rs.5.62 million from complainant Asad Ali, a resident of Bahria Town, Rawalpindi.
The money was allegedly taken on the pretext of paying the tuition fees of Ali’s son, Shabih-ul-Hasan, at Lancaster University in the UK, through official banking channels.
The FIA said its investigation found that the money was instead transferred through an illegal hawala-hundi network.
The university’s finance department later sought information about the person who had deposited the money.
According to the FIA, no information could be provided, and the university returned the funds to an unidentified source in April 2024.
The investigation has been assigned to FIA Sub-Inspector Hassan.
