The FIA hawala hundi bust in Karachi saw the Federal Investigation Agency arrest five people, including a private bank branch manager, the agency said on Thursday.
The FIA’s Anti-Corruption Circle raided the branch in Block 4 of Federal B Area under inquiry number 107/2026, an agency spokesperson said. A second report by TechJuice confirmed the same raid, the same inquiry number and the same five arrests.
FIA hawala hundi bust: five arrested, cash and phones seized
The arrested men were identified as Farhan Ahmed, Faisal Ahmed, Kashif Alvi, Muhammad Naseem and Junaid Ahmed. Alvi was identified as the branch manager of the private bank branch. The FIA statement was careful to note that the allegations concern the arrested individuals; it did not establish that the bank itself ran the network.
Officers recovered 300,000 Saudi riyals in cash, seven smart devices and mobile phones, and cheque books issued by various banks. According to the FIA, the phones allegedly contained WhatsApp conversations, digital ledgers and financial transaction records linked to the suspected hawala-hundi network. The cash, devices and other records were formally seized.
Investigators are now examining the sources of the transactions and working to identify other people and possible facilitators connected to the alleged operation.
Case to be registered under FERA
The spokesperson said proceedings were under way to register a case under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act and other applicable laws. The allegations against the five men have not been proven in court.
What is hawala-hundi, and why the crackdown matters
Hawala and hundi are informal value-transfer systems in which money moves through a trusted network of dealers rather than through banks. Overseas workers often use these channels to send money home because they can be cheaper and faster than formal remittances.
The problem is that every rupee moved through these channels bypasses the formal banking system. That starves official remittance inflows, drains foreign exchange reserves and makes it harder for the state to track money crossing its borders. For Pakistan, where reserves remain under constant watch and the rupee stays under pressure, that leakage is a direct hit on the economy. The State Bank’s reserves position and the dollar rate against the rupee both depend on money flowing through official channels, which is why the authorities treat these networks as a threat to the financial system.
The FIA has been stepping up enforcement against such operations. In an earlier case, the agency arrested two men in Dera Ghazi Khan over alleged hundi-hawala networks, and the regulator has also moved against formal players, including a case in which an exchange company’s licence was cancelled. As reserves crossed $21.89 billion earlier, protecting official inflows has become central to the country’s economic strategy. TechJuice also reported the Karachi raid independently, confirming the same details of the operation.
FAQ
Who was arrested in the FIA hawala hundi bust in Karachi?
Five men were arrested: Farhan Ahmed, Faisal Ahmed, Kashif Alvi, Muhammad Naseem and Junaid Ahmed. Kashif Alvi was identified as the branch manager of the private bank branch raided in Federal B Area’s Block 4. The FIA says the allegations concern the individuals, not the bank itself.
What was recovered during the raid?
Officers seized 300,000 Saudi riyals in cash, seven smart devices and mobile phones, and cheque books from various banks. The FIA says the phones allegedly contained WhatsApp chats, digital ledgers and transaction records tied to the suspected network.
What is hawala-hundi?
It is an informal system for moving money through a network of trusted dealers instead of banks. While often used for remittances, it operates outside the regulated financial system, which is illegal in Pakistan when used to evade currency controls.
What law will the case be registered under?
Proceedings are under way to register a case under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act and other applicable laws. The allegations have not yet been proven in court.
