National Cyber Crimes Investigation Agency (NCCIA) has exposed a child sexual exploitation gang operating in Punjab’s Muzaffargarh district, leading to the arrest of two suspects and the recovery of ten children.

Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry made the revelation during a press conference in Islamabad, saying the NICCIA has uncovered a “huge network” during an operation conducted on May 23.

He said an international gang masterminded by a German citizen was operating a child sexual exploitation group in Muzaffargarh where children were groomed.

“They set up a small club where children aged 6-10 years were taught games. They provided state-of-the-art facilities and modern cameras,” he said.

He added that children from disadvantaged families were “brought there, given money, and then blackmailed” to exploit them, and “their videos were uploaded on the dark web daily and sold for thousands of dollars.”

“Some videos were live-streamed and seen around the world from Muzaffargarh,” the state minister said. “The network was run by a German national and all efforts will be made to arrest him.”

Providing further information, he said fifty children had been victimised by the grooming gang, while “ten children were recovered and six were handed over to the child protection bureau.”

He mentioned that on May 23, the NCCIA launched an operation lasting five hours with assistance from other agencies, as a result of which two suspects were arrested.

“Unfortunately, the families and parents of some children were also involved in the nefarious crime and action has been initiated against them as well,” Chaudhry said.

He said the NCCIA had been working diligently against financial scams, harassment, and other cybercrime, adding that financial scams had become common due to the easy availability of mobile phones and the agency had been taking action after receiving complaints.

The minister went on to say that the workforce of the agency should be increased threefold and a branch should be set up in every district. “The interior minister and prime minister have been requested to increase funds for the NCCIA in the budget,” he said.

Chaudhry added that an international organisation, the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), provides information and the NCCIA takes prompt action.

He detailed that 178 first information reports have been lodged against child exploitation, 198 suspects have been arrested, and fourteen were jailed between four to ten years.

As many as 3,364 child abuse cases were reported from all four provinces, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) in the year 2024, according to the civil society report ‘Cruel Numbers 2024’ by Sahil that was prepared based on data collected from 81 national and regional newspapers across the country.

These included reported cases of child sexual abuse, abduction, missing children, and child marriages. It shows that nine children were abused per day during the year. A gender-divide analysis indicates that out of the total reported cases, 1,791 (53 per cent) victims were girls and 1,573 (47pc) boys.