LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has levelled allegations against the personnel of other law enforcement agencies (LEAs) of raiding call centres and taking ‘heavy bribes’ from their owners to let them off the hook.

In a letter to the FIA top officer, the cyber crime wing of the agency Lahore, told him on Tuesday about a number of raids at different call centres in the city by some members of the LEAs, impersonating FIA personnel in order to make money.

“It has been communicated verbally to the high command several times that certain provincial law enforcement agencies are raiding different call centres and introducing themselves as staff of FIA cyber crime, Lahore. It has also been highlighted that the members of such LEAs take heavy bribes from the call centre owners to let them off the hook,” the letter says.

The high command, it says, has been kind enough to raise the matter with the heads of LEAs concerned but to no avail.

“As of now the impersonation and taking bribe in the name of FIA is so widespread that the relatives of the victims approach FIA cyber crime wing frequently to inquire about the whereabouts of their near and dear ones. It is therefore requested to take up the issue at the highest level to avoid any untoward situation in the future,” it says.

The FIA cyber crime also requested its boss to educate the members of the provincial LEAs about unnecessary encroachment to lawful jurisdiction of the FIA cybercrime wing.

“The matter should be given top priority,” it requested.

Earlier, there were reports that the FIA cyber crime wing had been raiding different call centres on the pretext of investigating different online scams and arrested the employees and owners. They would detain them at undisclosed locations and release them after receiving heavy amounts from their families.

The FIA head, however, has not yet ordered a probe into the matter.

Meanwhile, the FIA Lahore has arrested two persons involved in Rs4.6m visa fraud.

It arrested Talat Rizwan and Khurram Munir in a raid in Bahria Orchard.

The suspects had received Rs4.6m from two citizens for sending them to South Korea and Canada.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2025