A rider from Bykea, a local on-demand transport and logistics platform, allegedly threatened to rape and kill a female journalist, it emerged on Monday.

In a tweet mentioning the company's official social media handle, journalist Zebunnisa Burki said: "Hello @bykeapk one of your riders just threatened to rape and kill me. Wondering if your complaint chat box actually works because I haven't received any response yet."

The statement caught the attention of Bykea which shortly replied to Burki's tweet "apologising for the inconvenience". "Kindly share your registered number with us via DM along with the booking details," the company replied.

The journalist later shared the update that she had managed to get in touch with the company's complaint centre, adding that Bykea had permanently removed the man from their service.

"I am looking into further action ─ or not ... [not sure to be honest]. Thank you, folks, for the tweets," she said.

In a statement issued later in the day, the company said it was "deeply sorry" for what the customer had to experience, confirming that action had been taken against the rider.

“Harassment is an unforgivable offence and at Bykea we take it very seriously. We are deeply sorry for what our valued customer had to go through. Based on the severity of the offence, the reported driver has been permanently blocked and strict action has been taken. We continue to investigate this further and work on serious measures to ensure customer satisfaction,” the statement read.