Cybercrime investigators say cryptocurrency payments and international police cooperation helped uncover suspected exploitation, while separate arrests expose the growing reach of online abuse networks
Pakistan’s National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency has arrested a father accused of producing and selling sexually abusive videos of his own young children through an international online network, officials announced Sunday, as separate investigations uncovered suspected exploitation involving minors, digital platforms, and overseas customers.
Speaking at an October 25 press conference in Islamabad, National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) Additional Director Mohammad Shoaib Khan said the suspect had allegedly filmed his young children and sold the material through private Telegram groups, receiving payments in cryptocurrency.
Khan described the case as unprecedented in Pakistan, saying it was the first known instance of a father being implicated in producing and selling such material involving his own children. The claim has not been independently established.
The suspect, who came from Skardu in Gilgit-Baltistan, was arrested with assistance from international law enforcement agencies, Khan said. Investigators recovered digital evidence, including footage of animal abuse, and identified possible connections to Islamabad, Multan, and southern Punjab. Efforts were continuing to identify and arrest other suspected facilitators.
Authorities have not publicly identified the suspect or the children.
Khan also described a separate investigation in which four suspects were arrested after investigators examined approximately 60 videos recovered from a child’s mobile phone. The arrests were announced October 23.
According to the official, members of that group approached children aged six to 14 through Instagram, offered them money, and persuaded them to produce sexually explicit material that was subsequently distributed and sold through WhatsApp groups.
In another case, Khan said the NCCIA had arrested a suspect accused of blackmailing a minor girl from Karachi for two to three years. The girl had reportedly attempted suicide and was receiving hospital treatment. Investigators, working with her family, traced and arrested the suspect in Islamabad within 13 hours, he said.
The investigations come as Pakistan confronts growing concerns about online child sexual exploitation and the ability of perpetrators to reach vulnerable children through social media, messaging applications, and other digital services.
On September 3, UNICEF published Disrupting Harm in Pakistan: Evidence on Technology-Facilitated Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, a study estimating that nearly one in 16 internet-using children aged 12–17, approximately 1.5 million, experienced at least one form of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation or abuse within a single year.
The research, conducted by UNICEF’s Office of Strategy and Evidence—Innocenti, ECPAT International, and INTERPOL, with funding from Safe Online, found that more than half of affected children had told nobody about their experiences. None of the affected children surveyed reported the abuse through formal channels such as police, social workers, or helplines.
The findings also challenged assumptions that online exploitation mainly involves strangers. In 85% of incidents described by children, the perpetrator was someone they already knew. Social media platforms accounted for 44% of reported incidents.
Researchers identified sexual extortion, blackmail, and artificial intelligence-generated abusive material among the emerging risks. Fear, stigma, financial vulnerability, and family pressure were significant obstacles to reporting and obtaining protection.
The scale of the problem has placed additional pressure on Pakistani investigators, who have launched several high-profile operations in October.
In Karachi, the NCCIA raided three digital design businesses on October 23, investigating allegations that they produced and marketed sexually explicit animated material depicting children.
The companies, identified in local reporting as Pixel Craft, Art Office, and a third design business, allegedly used fictitious social media accounts and female identities to attract international customers for digital services, including graphic design, animation, and explicit content.
Authorities initially took 42 people into custody during the operation and reported seizing 45 mobile phones for forensic examination. On October 24, a Karachi court granted the NCCIA four days of physical remand for 13 suspects and directed investigators to submit a progress report at their next appearance.
The investigation has since raised questions about the activities of individual employees, the nature of the material produced, and the offenses that prosecutors may ultimately be able to establish.
According to information provided to Dawn by an NCCIA investigator and published October 26, the companies had recruited young digital illustrators and animators without initially informing them about the nature of the assignments. Some employees reportedly earned between 25,000 and 40,000 Pakistani rupees a month.
The investigator said the explicit animations featured digitally created childlike characters rather than recordings of actual children. Lawyers representing some detained employees argued that their clients had simply been performing assigned work and were not knowingly involved in illegal activities.
The reported charges against the suspects include unauthorized access to computer systems or data, electronic forgery, and electronic fraud under Pakistan’s Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, along with related provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code. They do not specifically include child sexual abuse material offenses, although investigators have characterized the content as sexually explicit animated material involving childlike characters.
The NCCIA is examining the seized devices, digital communications, and suspected financial arrangements to determine the roles of the individuals involved. The criminal allegations have not been established in court.
In another Karachi investigation reported October 23, NCCIA officials said they had intervened to protect a teenage girl targeted by an international online network associated with the group known as 764.
According to NCCIA Additional Director Tariq Nawaz, who heads the agency’s Sindh region, a foreign investigative agency supplied information, including an internet protocol address, that helped Pakistani investigators locate the girl.
The 14-year-old had allegedly been manipulated and blackmailed through online gaming and social media platforms. Investigators said those targeting her used photographs and threats to pressure her into harmful behavior, including acts involving a pet and demands for self-injury.
The accounts provided by Pakistani officials have differed on some details of the alleged coercion. Nawaz said investigators reached the girl before she complied with demands to harm herself.
Investigators seized digital devices and began tracing possible additional victims in Pakistan and abroad, including the United States, Australia, and Britain. Pakistani authorities had confirmed the identity of one victim in the country and were working to identify others.
No arrests had been publicly announced in connection with that specific investigation as of October 26.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has warned that 764 and related violent online networks use manipulation, threats, and blackmail to coerce minors into sexual exploitation, animal cruelty, and self-harm. The networks operate internationally, often contacting children through social media, online gaming platforms, and encrypted messaging services.
On October 8, Prasan Nepal, 21, whom US prosecutors identified as a senior leader of 764, pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington to conspiracy to commit sexual exploitation of a child. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison, with sentencing scheduled for March 2027.
Pakistani authorities have not established any direct connection between the 764 investigation, the Karachi animation businesses, and the networks described by Khan in Islamabad.
For child protection specialists, the investigations have renewed questions about whether Pakistan possesses sufficient resources, trained personnel, and institutional safeguards to identify victims and pursue suspects operating across borders.
Islamabad-based policy consultant and cyber-AI expert Noureen Akhter told The Media Line that Pakistan was making efforts to combat child sexual exploitation and that the NCCIA had achieved significant arrests. However, she argued that tougher sentences alone could not dismantle networks operating internationally.
Akhter said exploitation frequently occurred within homes, sometimes with the alleged complicity of parents or other adults. Economic hardship could make children vulnerable to exploitation involving relatively small payments, while shame, intimidation, and dependence on adults discouraged disclosure.
She warned that encrypted platforms and the dark web complicated efforts to trace offenders and the circulation of abusive material. Pakistan needed stronger domestic detection capabilities, faster international cooperation, and improved systems for preserving digital evidence, she said.
Akhter identified insufficient institutional capacity as a major obstacle, calling for adequately funded district-level cybercrime units, specialized investigators, and digital forensic laboratories capable of handling complex cases.
She also advocated closer cooperation with technology companies and foreign law enforcement agencies, alongside confidential reporting channels and rehabilitation services for victims.
Recent child sexual abuse cases exposed gaps in parental supervision, digital literacy, public awareness and child protection
Karachi-based senior government official and child rights activist Hameed Alwani told The Media Line that “recent child sexual abuse cases exposed gaps in parental supervision, digital literacy, public awareness and child protection.”
Alwani said the government needed stronger age-appropriate online safeguards, consistent enforcement of existing legislation, and sustained public education.
He called for schools to teach children about consent, personal boundaries, online safety, and mechanisms for reporting exploitation. Parents, he said, should monitor children’s digital activities while maintaining open communication that encourages them to report disturbing experiences.
But Alwani cautioned that prevention alone was insufficient. Professional investigations, effective prosecution, timely trials, and closer coordination among institutions were essential to securing justice.
He identified social stigma, fear of retaliation, pressure for out-of-court settlements, and distrust of authorities as factors that allowed abuse to remain hidden. Families needed support in reporting crimes without exposing children to further distress or blame.
Pakistan had established a legal framework to address online child exploitation, including the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, and its amendments
A senior lawyer practicing before the Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench, who requested to be identified only as Faiza, told The Media Line that “Pakistan had established a legal framework to address online child exploitation, including the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, and its amendments.”
She said constitutional protections for children also provided a foundation for legal action but warned that enforcement deficiencies limited the effectiveness of existing laws.
Among the principal difficulties, Faiza identified inadequate technical expertise, lengthy proceedings, shortcomings in the collection and presentation of digital evidence, and insufficient coordination between investigators and prosecutors.
She called for specialized training for cybercrime investigators and prosecutors, stronger institutional cooperation, and judicial procedures designed to prevent children from experiencing additional trauma during criminal proceedings.
International cooperation was particularly important, she said, because online exploitation could involve perpetrators, victims, servers, and financial transactions located in different countries.
Faiza emphasized that investigations and prosecutions must protect victims’ privacy and dignity while ensuring that those responsible are held accountable.
The latest arrests have shown that Pakistani investigators can act on intelligence from overseas agencies and trace suspected offenders through digital evidence. The next tests will come in court, where prosecutors must establish individual responsibility, and in the continuing investigations to identify other victims and suspected members of the networks.
In Karachi, the 13 suspects remanded on October 24 are due to be brought back before a magistrate with an investigative progress report. Their cases will provide an early measure of whether the evidence collected in these operations can withstand judicial scrutiny.
