[Crime](/Spotlight/Society/Crime)
Cash-strapped government chases illegal transfers to boost legal remittances
Tens of thousands of Afghan refugees in Pakistan depend on the "hawala" trading system. © Getty Images
ADNAN AAMIR
ISLAMABAD -- Traders running illicit money transfers once operated openly in the crowded Chowk Yadgar district of Pakistan's northwestern Peshawar. But the business of _hawala_ has largely gone underground these days as the government cracks down on the shadow banking system.
In the first four months of last year, Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), which pursues financial crimes, reportedly carried out nearly 270 raids and arrested more than 300 people involved in the hawala trade, and recovered some $20 million.