LAHORE: A judicial magistrate on Wednesday sent a teenage suspect to jail on a 14-day judicial remand in a case of allegedly attempting to poison his father after seeking information about poisoning from artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots.

The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) produced the 17-year-old suspect before Judicial Magistrate Naeem Wattoo on the completion of his three-day physical remand.

The magistrate asked the investigating officer (IO) whether the suspect’s father had any objection to the case. The officer replied that the father had no objection. He also informed the magistrate that the teenager was his parents’ only son.

The officer said the father told the investigators that his son, a second-year student from Bahawalpur, used to conduct various kinds of research.

The IO told the court that the physical custody of the suspect was no longer required.

At this, the magistrate sent the suspect to jail on a 14-day judicial remand and directed the IO to submit a charge-sheet within the stipulated time.

Dawn learnt from sources that the 17-year old boy, ‘SA’, whose full name was not disclosed by

the NCCIA, lived in a posh area of Bahawalpur. He developed differences with his father, ‘BA’, over some family issues and wanted to kill him by administering poison.

The suspect, who was inspired by an OTT crime series, procured chemical substances from Australia and Islamabad and even set up a small laboratory in his house to prepare poison.

The boy also used AI tools and on-line platforms to seek information regarding poisonous chemicals and discussed ways to poison his father with AI bots.

On receiving a tip-off from the US agency, FBI, about the teenager, the NCCIA swung into action and on Sept 23 an agency team conducted a raid on the suspect’s house, where he had set up a laboratory.

During the search of the suspect’s house, five to six different types of chemicals were seized, along with two mobile phones, the sources said.

The NCCIA team arrested the suspect and later took him to its Lahore office, along with the seized material for interrogation and to initiate legal proceedings against him.

(Our Bahawalpur correspondent also contributed to the story)

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2026