SIALKOT: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Saturday arrested a woman for allegedly being involved in blackmailing on social media, making her the first female to have been taken into custody under the recently passed cybercrime law.

According to senior FIA officials, Sadia Mirza, 37, has been accused of blackmailing Ahsan Rana, a resident of London.

Hassan Rana, Ahsan’s brother, filed a complaint, alleging that Mirza had sent messages to his brother on social networking website Facebook and demanded money.

As per the FIR lodged by the FIA, Mirza has been accused of “sending threatening, abusive and lewd messages” to Ahsan.

The investigation and arrest were undertaken by an FIA team headed by Inspector Humaira Kanwal, and a case has subsequently been registered under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, — Clauses 20 (1) and 24(b)(c).

The FIA officials added that the suspect, a resident of Sialkot, had been shifted to the women section of the local police station on remand.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2017