LAHORE – A Lahore man accused of “sextortion” of a minor through the social media app Snapchat has been remanded into police custody for five days, the National Cyber Crimes Investigation Agency (NCCIA) said on Thursday.
The district and sessions court in Lahore directed that the accused be handed over to police for investigation.
According to NCCIA’s remand application, obtained by Dawn.com, the arrest followed a tip-off from an international organisation. The suspect was charged with circulating pornographic material on Snapchat and blackmailing a minor.
Upon arrest, his phone was seized, where investigators found pornographic content in screenshot and screen-recording folders. During initial questioning, the accused confessed to the crimes.
An FIR was subsequently registered under Section 22 (unauthorised use of identity information) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 (Peca). The court directed that the suspect be produced again on August 26.
While NCCIA sub-inspector Shafqat Ehsan had sought a 14-day physical remand, the court granted only five days.
The case comes amid alarming child abuse statistics. According to the child rights group Sahil, 3,364 cases were reported nationwide in 2024, including in all four provinces, ICT, AJK, and Gilgit-Baltistan. Of these, 53% of victims were girls and 47% boys.
Earlier this week, the interior ministry informed the Senate that of 567 sexual abuse cases registered in Islamabad from 2021 to June 2025, 200 involved children. In July, police arrested a man in Punjab’s Kasur district after footage of him allegedly molesting a minor girl went viral online.
