A local court in Lahore has issued its written order extending the physical remand of six officers of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), who were arrested on charges of bribery.
The two-page order, released by Judicial Magistrate Naeem Wattoo, stated that the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) investigation officer sought further physical remand of the accused. The prosecution informed the court that a probe into assets beyond known sources of income had also been initiated against the arrested officers.
According to the written order, the FIA prosecutor told the court that although the FIR mentioned Rs 9 million in alleged bribery, the total recovery has surpassed Rs 40 million. The prosecutor argued that the accused were “highly skilled and cunning” and that “special investigative techniques” were required to interrogate them due to the white-collar nature of the crime.
The prosecution further stated that initial inquiry indicated that the accused were involved in systematically accepting bribes and were well-versed in different methods of illicit financial dealings.
The court noted that the significant cash recovery during the previous three-day remand constituted an important development in the investigation, and therefore the suspects could not be discharged at this stage.
Granting the FIA’s request, the court extended the physical remand of all six accused for another three days, directing the agency to produce them again on November 3.
According to the FIA, a total of Rs 42.548 million has so far been recovered from the arrested officials, including Rs 11.295 million from one of the accused, Sarfraz Chaudhry. The case was registered by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency.
