Pakistan’s National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) has arrested a man accused of making and selling explicit videos of his own young children through secret online groups, in what officials described as the first case of its kind to surface in the country.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Sunday, NCCIA Islamabad Additional Director Mohammad Shoaib Khan said the suspect, a resident of Skardu in Gilgit-Baltistan, was arrested with assistance from international agencies. He said the man allegedly filmed his children, aged between four and six, and sold the material through secret groups on the Telegram app, with payments made in cryptocurrency.
Khan said investigators recovered digital evidence, including mobile phones and laptops, which have been sealed for forensic analysis. He said the investigation also found links in Islamabad, Multan and southern Punjab, and that raids were under way to arrest other facilitators of the network. “Those involved in such heinous crimes will be brought to justice,” he said, according to reports of the press conference.
The agency said the inquiry began after a source report and assistance from international agencies indicated that such material was being bought and sold through secret Telegram groups. Officials have not publicly identified the suspect or the children, and no further personal details have been released.
The case is the latest major cybercrime action by the agency, which recently arrested the prime suspect in an alleged Rs35 billion fake postage stamp scam in Lahore, as part of a wider campaign against online fraud and exploitation.
At the same press conference, Khan also described separate cases, including the arrest of four suspects after investigators examined material recovered from a child’s mobile phone, and a Karachi harassment case in which the main suspect was arrested within hours of a complaint. He said the agency is launching an awareness campaign at universities and schools to teach parents how to monitor what their children view on mobile phones, and warned that parents who know of crimes involving their children but fail to report them could also face action.
Officials say the investigation into the network is continuing, with further arrests expected as forensic analysis of the seized devices proceeds.
A video report of the press conference was shared on Nishandahi Media’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1431404001771288/
