CH. ABDUL AZIZ, J.---Azeem Khan and Shah Khalid (petitioners) seek bail after arrest in case FIR No.9 dated 16.02.2023 under sections 5, 8, 23 of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947 (amended in 2020) registered with Police Station FIA, CBC, Islamabad.
2. Precisely stated the case of prosecution as it gleans from crime report is to the effect that FIA received a secret information that some Afghani and Pakistani are involved in illegal sale and purchase of Foreign Currency and are also involved in the activity of Hawala/ Hundi; that upon this information, search warrants were obtained from the court and the raiding party reached at premises situated in Street No:6, near Bilal Masjid, Saddar Road, Rawalpindi; that two persons, namely, Azeem Khan and Shah Khalid (petitioners) were found sitting on the carpet, and from their custody diaries and registers 15 Nos. 31 copies of identity cards and 17 copies of Afghan nationals cards and an amount of Rs.2,07,50,000/- were recovered and secured .through 'recovery memo; that from the 2nd floor of the said building 02 HP laptops and two mobile phones were also secured through separate recovery memo; that both petitioners told that Karim Khan, Bilal Ahmed and Shabbir Khan are the ' owners of the said business and had gone to collect the amount from market; that both the petitioners stated that they are the employees of the said premises for the last two years
3. Arguments heard and record perused.
4. It evinces from the tentative review of record that FIA officials received a stool pigeon information that some Pakistani and Afghan nationals are involved in unlawful business of Hawala/ hundi. In pursuance of such information, a raid was conducted in the premises from where various incriminating articles including registers, cheque books, credit cards, bank deposit slips, CNICs and Afghan citizen cards along with sizeable quantity of Pakistani currency were recovered. Besides that, the petitioners Azeem Khan and Shah Khalid were also arrested by the FIA officials after having been found present in the same premises.
5. It is observed from record that the premises from where the aforementioned articles were recovered belongs to Karim Khan, Bilal Ahmad and Shabbir Khan, who presently are at large. Out of these persons, the former two are Afghan nationals and for all practical purposes are the main culprits. So far as, the petitioners are concerned it is informed that they were working in the premises as petty employees getting meager monthly salaries. On Court's query, it is informed that from the bank accounts of the petitioners no traces of any unusual financial transactions arc found discerning. Though, during raid proceedings bulk of documents/registers giving clue about the business of Hundi/Hawal were recovered but no effort was made to ascertain about the origin of these handwritings.
6. The offence under section 23 of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947 entails maximum punishment up to five years, thus does not attract the prohibitory clause of section 497, Cr.P.C. In such like cases, post arrest bail can be granted to an accused if there is no exceptional circumstance available on record against him. The unlawful business of Hundi/Hawala is admittedly a financial crime which can be placed at higher pedestal but such delinquency is attributed to absconding co-accused and not to the petitioner. Despite having scanned the record, this Court has not. come across any such circumstance, which may be termed as exceptional in nature and to deprive the petitioners from the concession of post arrest bail. In these circumstances, this Court is left with no other option but to grant post arrest bail to the petitioners, who are in custody since 16.02.2023 and that too without any material progress in the trial.
7. For what has been discussed above, the instant petition is allowed and the petitioners are admitted to post arrest bail subject to furnishing bail bonds to the sum of Rs.5,00,000/- each with two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of trial court.