NCCIA Busts Seven Illegal Call Centres, Arrests 281 Suspects

Overview

• The NCCIA Lahore Zone carried out coordinated raids on seven illegal call centres that resulted in 281 arrests, including 21 foreign nationals and 20 women.
• Investigators seized large quantities of equipment—362 mobile phones, 191 computer systems, 74 laptops and 550 SIM cards—and have sent them for forensic analysis to link devices to crimes.
• The agency reported recovering Rs19,246,240 in five fraud cases and says the call centres are accused of running financial scams, honey‑trapping, online harassment and blackmail.
• Separate child‑exploitation probes led to three arrests last week, the agency said, and it credited AI‑assisted analysis with identifying at least one suspect while also taking possession of Mohammad Rizwan’s mobile for review.
• NCCIA has been given anti‑money‑laundering responsibilities and launched public open‑court sessions to speed complaints, moves that could broaden prosecutions and target cross‑border staffing in the networks.