Islamabad: A customs court on Tuesday issued a bailable arrest warrant for Pakistani supermodel Ayyan Ali, facing trial for an alleged attempt in 2015 to smuggle more than half a million US dollars (Dh1.83 million) in cash out of the country.
The trial judge said the model had not appeared at the last 12 hearings of the money laundering case, and ordered the authorities concerned to arrest and produce her before the court on June 21.
The model, currently residing in a Gulf country, was indicted by the customs court in November 2015 and had pleaded not guilty.
She was arrested at Islamabad’s Benazir International Airport in March the same year after customs officials allegedly recovered the foreign currency from her luggage.
She was granted bail last year after her judicial remand was extended multiple times.
The model’s name was removed from the government Exit Control List earlier this year on the order of the Supreme Court and she left for a Gulf country.
During Tuesday’s court hearing, Ali’s counsel requested the model be permitted temporary absence due to illness of her mother in a Gulf country.
Judge Shiraz Kayani turned down the request and inquired whether the model planned to return to Pakistan at all.
The judge said the Supreme Court had allowed her to travel abroad, but she had not been exempted from appearing for trial.
