LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested two men in separate cases on Thursday for harassing and blackmailing as many women, including a Malaysian national, through social media.

The FIA arrested a Gulshan-i-Ravi resident for harassing a Malaysian woman, identified as Venkateswari Alagendra.

According to the FIA, Ms Alagendra filed a complaint with its cyber crime reporting centre (CCRC) through High Commissioner of Malaysia, Islamabad, against one Waqas Shoaib for harassing, blackmailing and circulating her superimposed/edited family pictures through social media.

FIA CCRC Deputy Director Chaudhry Sarfraz told Dawn that during the probe, location of the suspect was traced in Gulshan-i-Ravi and he was arrested in a raid. He said the FIA had recovered a mobile phone containing the objectionable material and alleged WhatsApp account through which the suspect had circulated the alleged material.

“After recovery of the alleged material and sufficient incriminating evidence from his mobile phones and other digital media, a case has been registered against him under sections 20, 21 and 24 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA),” he said.

The complainants include a Malaysian woman

In the second incident, the FIA cyber crime wing arrested a man for blackmailing a woman by uploading her objectionable pictures and videos on a social media networking site.

A complaint was submitted by the woman of Lahore to the FIA cyber crime, alleging that the suspect, Hamza Ahmed, was harassing and blackmailing her through social media posts.

Taking action on her complaint, a team formed by FIA Deputy Director Chaudhry Sarfraz raided the whereabouts of the suspect in New Satellite Town, Sargodha, and arrested him. The FIA recovered from him the mobile containing the objectionable material and alleged WhatsApp account through which he had sent the content related to the complainant to her relatives.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2019