MULTAN: The Federal Investi­ga­tion Agency arrested two men on suspicion of their links to an international child pornography ring following a tip from Italy through Int­erpol, authorities said on Saturday.

The arrests took place after an early-morning raid on the skirts of Sialkot, said Mohammad Iqbal, a top FIA official in the city.

This was the first time Interpol provided information to Pakistan about the presence of a criminal operation involving child pornography in the country, he said.

Italian tip through Interpol leads to arrest

Material retrieved from a computer allegedly belonging to one of the suspects showed “he was in contact with an international gang and was posting child pornography videos on the dark web”, Mr Iqbal told The Associated Press.

The dark web is a layer of the internet that isn’t visible on search engines and requires specific software.

The first suspect was interrogated after his arrest, leading to the capture of an accomplice from the area, but two other suspects remained at large, Iqbal said.

Under law, the two suspects must be taken before a judge within 24 hours of their arrest, at which point the FIA will likely ask for additional time to conduct the investigation before filing formal charges against them.

Interpol is an international body that connects police from 194 countries and also coordinates cross-bor­der police operations. It’s funded by member governments.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2021