RAWALPINDI: The Special Court of Customs, Excise and Taxation has approved model Ayyan Ali’s application to return her passport which was confiscated upon her arrest in March in a currency-smuggling case.
The court had summoned a response from the customs officials on her application for the return of passport. In his response, customs investigation officer Inspector Mohammad Saleem had expressed reservations regarding the return of Ayyan’s passport. The customs officer said three passports had been confiscated from Ayyan upon her arrest.
Ayyan’s passport is important documentary evidence in the currency smuggling case and it is possible that if her passport was returned, Ayyan would leave the country, the customs official told Judge Rana Aftab Ahmed.
He added that the model’s departure from the country will affect the currency smuggling case being heard by the customs court.
However, Ayyan’s counsel Khurram Latif Khosa told the court that the passport is Ayyan’s “bread and butter” as she frequently travels abroad as part of her modelling contracts. The model serves as a cultural ambassador and serves Pakistan internationally, Khosa said.
In an earlier hearing, Khosa had said that the authorities had impounded Ayyan Ali’s passport in order to prevent her from going abroad.
“This is against the law and is a violation of fundamental human rights. Nobody’s passport can be confiscated based on allegations,” he had argued before the judge at the time.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the court approved Ayyan’s application to return her passport and directed the model to furnish two security bonds of Rs1,000,000 each and a personal surety bond.
However, the court warned, if the model violates her promises and does not return to Pakistan, her property here will be seized.
Ayyan was apprehended while travelling with half a million US dollars. The amount was seized by customs when she was checking in for a flight to Dubai at Benazir Bhutto International Airport (BBIA) on March 14 this year.
A Special Customs court formally charged her with attempted currency smuggling last week, almost nine months after she was arrested.
