Kasur: Police said Sunday they have arrested another suspect involved in producing and selling illicit videos of child sexual abuse in Kasur, bringing to seven the number of arrests in a massive child sex abuse scandal that has shocked the nation.
The suspect belongs to a gang of criminals which has reportedly been actively involved for the last 10 years in countless cases of extreme child sexual abuse in Ganda Singh Wala area of Kasur in Punjab province.
Investigations revealed that around 400 videos were made of 280 minor victims of sex abuse by the gang of over 25 criminals.
Several parents of victims were consistently blackmailed and coerced to pay hundreds of thousands of rupees as they were threatened that the gang would release the videos in public. Reports said families in the locality were helpless as officials all along remained apathetic to the incident.
A report presented to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Saturday said six accused had already been arrested in the case while raids were being conducted for the arrest of the remaining criminals. The latest arrest brings the total number of suspects apprehended in the case to seven.
District Police Officer (DPO) Kasur, Rai Babar Saeed said Saturday that they have recovered 60 to 70 video clips from which the perpetrators are being identified and action will immediately be taken against them.
Punjab Home Minister, Shuja Khanzada, speaking to Geo News, contradicted various statements by police officials in Kasur and confirmed that the incidents have in fact taken place albeit not in the numbers being portrayed in the media.
He went on to say that the case is indeed terrible and shameful, adding that no stone will be left unturned during investigations.
He further said that every guilty criminal involved will be brought to justice.
Meanwhile, DPO Kasur as well as RPO Kasur alleged that there was a land dispute linked to the case, adding that two groups from the village were involved in the dispute.
DPO Kasur added that only seven complaints have come up so far while six suspects have been taken into custody.
He also said that the numbers being depicted in the media are being exaggerated and neither is there any atmosphere of fear in the village.
