Federal Investigation Agency - Government of Pakistan

Fake medicines; illegal telephone exchange; fake credit cards; pirated CDs/DVDs; & counterfeit currencies.

“Intellectual property” is creative work and encompasses branches such as copyright, patents, designs and trademarks. IPR violation is a barrier to foreign-direct-investment in Pakistan. Copyright piracy is believed as a key factor to tax evasion, white-collar crime, money laundering and organized crimes. Combating IPR crimes for the purpose of developing the local industries is one of the top priorities set out by the Government of Pakistan.

Copyright Ordinance came onto the schedule of FIA in April 2005. FIA registered 49 cases; sealed six illegal manufacturing units of CDs/DVDs in Karachi; and seized over 1.5 million pirated optical discs till June 2008. FIA has recently initiated actions against book piracy and seized thousand of pirated books on complaints from Oxford University Press and others. FIA’s performance has been lauded at national and global levels.

“…Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) this week made nine arrests for copyright violations, seized over 1,000,000 pirated CDs and video and audio cassettes, and, most importantly, shut down six factories illegally producing optical media. Steps like these no doubt help Pakistan attract greater investment in innovative industries.” [Deputy USTR, Josette Sheeran Shiner]
“The United States is pleased with the recent progress Pakistan has demonstrated in fighting optical disc piracy.” [USTR, Rob Portman]

“I would like to put on record our gratitude and admiration for the strong anti-book piracy enforcement activities being undertaken by the FIA. Such actions will go a long way in ensuring that children are provided with good quality, original books and that parents and other customers are not deceived and cheated into buying counterfeit products on the pretext that they are being supplied genuine books and at same price as those of genuine books. FIA’s efforts to wipe out this menace of piracy will ensure that the school children get the benefit of books and are not discouraged from reading and learning which poor quality pirated books are bound to result in” [Ms. Ameena Saiyid, Managing Director, Oxford University Press, Pakistan.]

The illicit trade of production/ supply, distribution, and sale of drugs are posing a serious threat to the lives of the innocent citizens and has serious ramifications such as:

FIA’s crime wing has taken up the challenge to eradicate the illicit trade in drugs and has recovered spurious drugs valuing over Rs.469 million and seized eleven illegal manufacturing units. Special drug units have been established in the provincial headquarters. The FIA has registered 102 cases during last three years.

FIA is empowered under the Electronic Transactions Ordinance- 2002 to effectively deal with the growing menace of computer/internet related crimes in the country. “National Response Center for Cyber Crime [NR3C]” has been established in the FIA HQ and at the Zonal offices in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi. The crimes circles across the country have started taking action under this law and a total of 107 cases have been registered under the ETO 2002 up till June 2008.

The increasing instances of counterfeiting of currency in various parts of the country hold serious repercussions for the national economy. FIA crime wing is responsible to deal with the currency counterfeiting. The FIA is maintaining a database of all the culprits of counterfeit currency cases across the country. The FIA coordinates with the provincial/ local law enforcement agencies in cases registered in their jurisdictions.


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