Waqar Zaka, a social media activist and cryptocurrency trader, has been the subject of a non-bailable arrest order issued by a municipal court in Karachi. Zaka is said to be on the run after being linked to shady transactions involving cryptocurrencies worth Rs. 173 million.
This development follows the filing of a case against Waqar Zaka by the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Cyber Crime Wing (CCW) in August 2020 for running two bank accounts for cryptocurrency transactions.
The case against Waqar Zaka was heard by Judicial Magistrate (East) Mukesh Kumar, who also instructed the FIA’s attorney to submit a report about the issuance of an arrest warrant against the fugitive on January 5, 2023, the next hearing date.
Speaking about the case, Assistant Director (AD) FIA Shehryar Ahmed Khan said that Zaka’s transactions totaling more than Rs. 173 million, including Rs. 86.1 million in credit transactions and Rs. 87.1 million in debit transactions, were revealed in the banks’ records from the previous three years.
Waqar Zaka allegedly raised more than Rs. 6.8 million for charity using social media and outside funds, which was then removed through pay orders and inter-bank financial transfers (IBFT).
It stated that Waqar Zaka’s social media videos demonstrate his involvement in owning cryptocurrency assets and that its preliminary inquiry indicated he publicly promotes virtual assets like bitcoin, which are not regarded as legitimate by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
