ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has registered a major case against several senior officials of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), accusing them of running a multimillion-rupee extortion operation linked to illegal call centres in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
According to the FIA’s Anti-Corruption Circle, an FIR has been filed naming multiple NCCIA officers including additional directors stationed in Rawalpindi as key suspects. A foreign national and a local frontman, allegedly responsible for handling bribe transactions on the officers’ behalf, have also been implicated.
The complaint alleges that roughly 15 illegal call centres, mostly operating from Islamabad’s F-11 sector, were compelled to pay hefty extortion sums to NCCIA personnel in exchange for continued operations. “These officers were receiving millions each month from the call centre owners,” the FIR stated.
The document further details that a woman paid several million rupees to secure the release of her husband a foreign national and 13 others detained during a raid. The money was reportedly collected through the frontman linked to the accused officers.
Investigators disclosed that the prime suspect in the scandal had previously served as NCCIA’s Sindh director. Sources said that between September 2024 and April 2025, the extortion network amassed nearly Rs120 million, with an average of Rs15 million being collected monthly from 15 call centres in Rawalpindi alone.
An additional director is accused of supervising the racket, while a sub-inspector allegedly negotiated monthly “protection payments” of Rs800,000 from a newly opened call centre. The practice, sources claim, continued even after a new team was posted to the NCCIA’s Rawalpindi office in May 2025 with a clerk appointed as a frontman to keep the collections going.
During one raid, FIA officials arrested 14 foreign nationals from a Rawalpindi-based call centre. The sub-inspector involved purportedly tortured one detainee and sent a video of the abuse to his wife, demanding Rs8 million for his release. An additional Rs12 million was allegedly extracted for freeing the remaining foreigners, while Rs1 million was charged for “legal procedures.”
Altogether, about Rs21 million collected from that operation was reportedly divided among the accused officials. In another instance, an Islamabad SHO allegedly reached a Rs40 million settlement after a separate raid on an F-11 call centre.
The development follows the earlier arrest of six NCCIA officers in Lahore, who were accused of accepting a Rs9 million bribe from the wife of YouTuber Saadur Rehman (Ducky Bhai). The YouTuber was detained in August at Lahore Airport on charges of promoting online gambling and betting platforms such as Binomo and 1xBet.
