The Counter Terrorism Department of Karachi Police arrested an IS suspect on Wednesday. The police claim they have taken an Islamic State-linked militant involved in ‘collecting donations meant for Afghanistan’ into custody.
“Acting on a tip-off, the CTD conducted a raid in the Korangi Industrial Area and detained an important commander affiliated with the global militant Islamic State group,” according to a CTD statement.
The law enforcement agency identified the said suspect as an Afghan national, Abdul Malik, and said that the donations were usually collected in Ramazan and sent to the terror outfit’s Afghanistan chapter.
The CTD further said that Malik had been living in the metropolis ‘for a long time’, and had been tasked with the ‘donation drive’.
‘During interrogation, the suspect also revealed being in touch with the Mulla Abdul Manan group since 2011’.
The department further stated that the suspect was also involved in ‘hawala/hundi’ business, being able to send “millions of rupees” to Afghanistan using the method.
According to CTD, it had found a 30-bore pistol on the man as well as a cell phone, which had provided “vital information”. Forensics, it maintained, were being carried out on the device.
The illicit flows reveal how the Taliban continue to evade sanctions after their 2021 takeover of Afghanistan. For Pakistan, it has contributed to the steady depletion of crucial foreign reserves, and added to downward pressures on the Pakistani rupee as the currency tumbles to record lows against the dollar and the economy teeters on the brink of collapse.
“Currency is being smuggled without any doubt,” Paracha told Bloomberg, adding that “this has become quite a lucrative business.”
As reported a day earlier, millions of dollars are being smuggled into Afghanistan from Pakistan every day, providing support for the isolated economy.
These financial flows take place despite the international restrictions on Taliban, and after the US and EU denied the Taliban’s “interim” government access to billions of dollars of Afghanistan’s foreign reserves.
For Pakistan, these unauthorised outflows are exacerbating an economic polycrisis spiraling out of control, as the country’s political leaders scramble for power amidst the chaos.
“Traders and smugglers are bringing as much as $5 million across the border daily”, Muhammad Zafar Paracha, general secretary of the 26-member ‘Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan’, a group of currency dealers, told Bloomberg News. “That more than covers the as-much-as $17 million that Afghanistan’s central bank injects into the market each week”.
The illicit flows reveal how the Taliban continue to evade sanctions after their 2021 takeover of Afghanistan. For Pakistan, it has contributed to the steady depletion of crucial foreign reserves, and added to downward pressures on the Pakistani rupee as the currency tumbles to record lows against the dollar and the economy teeters on the brink of collapse.
“Currency is being smuggled without any doubt,” Paracha told Bloomberg, adding that “this has become quite a lucrative business.”
