ISLAMABAD  -  Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry on Tuesday said the newly established cybercrime investigation body has busted an international gang involved in sexual exploitation of children.

He added that a ‘gaming club’ in Muzaffarabad had been dismantled that was being used as a platform to lure and trap innocent children between 6-10 years.

Speaking at a news conference along with the National Cybercrime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) Director General Waqaruddin Syed, the minister of state for interior said the gang targeted children belonging to extremely poor families.

He said the gaming centre was equipped with state-of-the-art cameras and equipment where videos were recorded and sold on the dark web for thousands of dollars per day. Arrangements were also made for live transmission, he added.

Chaudhry said the gang was busted in a five-hour long operation led by NCCIA with the support of other agencies and ten children were recovered. He said two members of the gang were arrested while efforts were underway to catch three others and the ringleader, who was a German national.

He said the operation had been carried out on the basis of information provided by US-based national centre for missing and exploited children (NCMEC)

He said as many as 50 children had been affected and unfortunately family members and parents of some of them were also involved in it.

He said the poor children were initially trapped by paying some money to them and were then blackmailed to continue the illegal activity.

The minister of state revealed as many as 178 FIRs of child exploitation related crimes had so far been registered leading to the arrest of 197 individuals.

He said investigations had been completed and challans submitted with courts convicting 14 criminals awarding punishment of imprisonment between seven to ten years.

He also said there was a plan to enhance the capacity of the NCCIA and establish its offices in each district of the country.

NCCIA Director General Waqaruddin while speaking on the occasion said hundreds of videos were recovered from the club, and many were already being circulated through encrypted apps like WhatsApp and Telegram, and later sold on the dark web. “We are working closely with Interpol and German authorities to trace and arrest the foreign suspects,” he added.

He also highlighted that Pakistan was now among the 71 countries with access to Interpol’s global databases, which has helped speed up investigations and international cooperation.