NCCIA busts int'l child abuse gang
ISLAMABAD: The National Cyber Crimes Investigation Agency (NCCIA) has busted an international child exploitation gang in Muzaffargarh allegedly led by a German citizen, said State Minister for Interior Talal Chaudhry on Tuesday.
Addressing at a press conference flanked by the Director General (DG) NCCIA Waqar Uddin Syed, the minister said that the gang was involved in the child sexual exploitation aged between 6 to 10 years old. This gang was involved in blackmailing children, especially those hailing from a poor community and uploading explicit videos of minors to the dark web, he said.
The minister stated that the gang had set up a state-of-the-art fighting club, targeting young children, from which 10 minors have been rescued so far.
Six of these children have already been handed over to the Child Protection Bureau for rehabilitation, he said, adding that the German national was the ringleader of the gang.
Chaudhry said that, unfortunately, some parents are also found involved in these inhuman activities. 'In the club, the exploiters have installed modern gadgets and cameras for making videos of children,' he said, adding that NCCIA had conducted five-hour-long operations for busting the gang.
He said that NCCIA has arrested two suspects, and three accused are still at large. The DG NCCIA said that the special branch Punjab had informed the agency about a foreign national frequently visiting a village in Muzaffargarh.
Upon investigation, it was discovered that children were being filmed in an organised manner, he said, adding that a highly professional setup had been established, complete with modern cameras and lighting systems, to record these videos.
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