KARACHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday suspended an earlier order of the Sindh High Court to remove model Ayyan Ali’s name from the Exit Control List (ECL).

On March 7, the SHC had directed the authorities concerned to strike model Ayyan Ali’s name off the ECL.

An application was filed in the apex court on Tuesday against removal of her name from the list. The plea was filed by the Pakistan Customs.

Hearing the plea, the apex court directed Ayyan’s counsel Latif Khosa to submit a detailed response in this regard.

Ayyan Ali was arrested from the Benazir Bhutto International Airport in March last year after custom officials discovered over half a million dollars in her suitcase. Her name was subsequently placed on the ECL on November 20, 2015

Ayyan, now on bail, is under trial in the Customs Court at Rawalpindi on charges of attempting to smuggle $500,000 out of the country.

The model was arrested from Benazir Bhutto International Airport with $500,000 in March this year. The Airport Security Force intercepted her and recovered the said amount from her luggage. She was released on bail after four months in Adiala Jail.

It is worth mentioning that custom officer Chaudhry Ijaz, one of the key witnesses in the case, was murdered.