Pakistan court grants three-day remand of cybercrime officers in bribery case
Four NCCIA officers, including a senior director, were arrested in Lahore on charges of abuse of power and bribery
Haider Amin
Correspondent, Nukta
Haider Amin is a multimedia broadcast journalist with an experience of almost 18 years. Served media industry as reporter, associate executive producer and head of packaging department.
NCCIA officers arrive at the District Court Lahore.
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A court in Pakistan approved on Tuesday a three-day physical remand of National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) officers in an alleged bribery case.
The court handed over all the accused to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for further probe.
Earlier in the day, the FIA carried out an operation in Lahore and arrested four NCCIA officers, including Additional Director Sarfraz Chaudhry. According to reports, the officers were detained on charges of abuse of power and allegedly accepting bribes.
Those presented before Judicial Magistrate Naeem Wattoo included Additional Director NCCIA Sarfraz Chaudhry, NCCIA Lahore In-charge Zawar Ahmad, Assistant Director Shoaib Riaz, Sub-Inspector Ali Raza, Assistant Director Mujtaba Zafar, and Sub-Inspector Yasir Ramzan.
The FIA’s lawyer requested the court to grant physical remand of the accused to complete the investigation. The court asked, “What investigation have you conducted so far, based on which these arrests were made?”
The FIA’s lawyer responded that the investigation is still ongoing and requested physical remand so the accused could be confronted with other suspects.
According to the FIR filed on the complaint of Arooba Jatoi, wife of YouTuber Saad Rehman, popularly known as Ducky Bhai, nine NCCIA officers were nominated in the case, including six officers who had allegedly been missing for several days.
Among the missing officials, NCCIA Assistant Director Shoaib Riaz had been unaccounted for since September 26, Lahore In-charge Zawar Ahmad since September 29, and Additional Director Sarfraz Chaudhry since October 2. Sub-Inspector Ali Raza and Islamabad-based Deputy Director Usman had also reportedly been missing for several days, highlighting serious concerns over the agency’s internal operations.
The case of Deputy Director Usman’s disappearance is currently being heard in the Islamabad High Court.
In recent weeks, apart from Ducky Bhai, the NCCIA had also issued notices to several social media influencers, including Rajab Butt, Iqra Kanwal, Areeb, Nadeem Nani Wala, Irum Mahmood, Anas Ali and Husnain Shah.
Most of the arrested officers were reportedly involved in investigations related to these individuals.
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