ISLAMABAD, FEB 20 (DNA) – Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Thursday said that it had received over 56,000 complaints relating to cyber crime during 2019 and registered 1086 cases against the accused.

The details were shared by the FIA officials during the meeting of the National Assembly’s standing Committee on Defense, chaired by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MNA Amjad Nizai.

The officials said that out of the 56,696 complaints received by the agency, 11028 were investigated and 1086 cases were registered against the accused involved in cyber crime activities.

“We have raised the number of the anti-cyber crime offices to 15 to improve action against such acts,” they said adding that currently there are over 70 million internet users in the country.

They said that a majority of the cyber crime cases reported to them were related to sexual harassment, blackmailing and obscene activities online. “We have also held a child pornography gang operating globally and one of the Pakistani accused is convicted in the case,” they said.

The FIA officials said that they had also busted a gang-comprising of PTA officials-  involved in activating IMEI numbers without tax payment. “An investigation in the case is ongoing,” they said.

Responding regarding probe into financial frauds, the officials said that they had to obtain prior approval from the court for investigations in these cases. In June 2017, Federal Minister for Law and Justice Barrister Dr. Muhammad Farogh Naseem said that the government would bring amendment in cyber-crime law to remove flaws.

Talking to journalists, Farogh Naseem said that the law ministry had prepared a draft of amendments and added that after finalizing the draft bill, it would be presented before the cabinet.

He underscored the need to balance the cyber-crime laws and added that the amendment bill would remove flaws and make things better. The government will insure freedom of expression and basic human rights, the minister said and added that it was also necessary to curb fake and anti-state. =DNA

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