At Islamabad International Airport, a Saudi official was denied entry because he had more than $5,000 in foreign currency.According to sources close to the Customs Collectorate Islamabad, this incident occurred on May 29, 2024, when a Saudi diplomat flying on Saudi flight No. SV-725 to Riyadh presented a letter from the Embassy claiming that he was carrying SAR 958,125/-because he had sold his personal vehicle. ProPakistani was informed of this information.
In the aforementioned letter from the Director of Protocol and Public Relations, the Embassy asked for a leniency in this matter and made it clear that the diplomat was the one who sought the letter’s issuance and that the Embassy had no legal or administrative duty in this regard.He was kindly advised that he may only carry foreign currency up to US$ 5,000 in value due to State Bank regulations by the Attaché and Protocol Officer of the Embassy.
He was asked to return the extra cash to the Embassy employees because it was against central bank standards for him to carry that much cash.The Attaché insisted that the money he had received was from the sale of his personal car, which he planned to take with him, thus he refused to return the currency.He refused to give the money back to the Embassy employees in spite of repeated demands from the Attaché and PRO of the Embassy. As a result, was refused entry by the airline.According to sources, the incident report was also sent to the member customs operations FBR by Customs Collectorate Islamabad for informational purposes.
