MUZAFFARGARH: A child abuse scandal has surfaced in Kot Addu where, according to police, a gang has sexually assaulted 26 children.

The gang also made videos of rape of the children to blackmail their parents and prevent them from going to police.

District Police Officer Malik Awais Ahmed told Dawn that they had arrested three people on the complaint of children who had been kidnapped and raped.

A resident of Ward No 14 approached police with the complaint that his 12-year-old child had gone missing from home last month. After two days, he said, he was found unconscious in a street. The child told parents that a man of the locality had kidnapped and raped him and the perpetrators also made videos of the crime.

The parents initially hesitated going to police but reported the incident after which the DPO assigned the case to the CIA police. When police started investigating the case, the parents of five more children also came forward and narrated their ordeal saying they did not earlier report the matter to police because of fear of disrepute.

The main complainant of the case told reporters that last month his child went missing and he approached police when he did not return home. After two days the child was found in the street, he said, adding that he alleged rape by the gangsters.

The DPO said three people had been arrested and they had confessed to kidnapping and raping 26 children.

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2016