The federal government on Tuesday replaced the director general of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) amid an ongoing corruption scandal affecting its employees and other issues.
The federal government created the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) to investigate illegal activities on social media. The NCCIA, which operates under the Interior Division, plays a key role in fighting cybercrime in Pakistan.
Notifications issued today by the Establishment Division of the Cabinet Secretariat said Syed Khurram Ali, a BS-21 officer of the police service, was appointed as the new Director General of the NCCIA with immediate effect, replacing Waqaruddin Syed, who was ordered to report to the division immediately.
The latter was appointed to the position in April.
Earlier today, a Lahore court granted the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) a three-day physical remand for six NCCIA officials in a case registered against them for alleged abuse of authority, extortion and accepting bribes.
The first information report (FIR) of the case was registered at the FIA Anti-Corruption Circle in Lahore on the complaint of Aroob Jatoi, the wife of YouTuber Saadur Rehman alias Ducky Bhai, who was arrested in a case related to promotion of gambling apps on social media.
The FIR, a copy of which is available with dawn.comwas registered against nine persons, including eight NCCIA officials, yesterday at 7:35 pm Among them, the six who were in FIA custody were said to have been missing for several days before the FIA announced their arrest yesterday.
Meanwhile, the whereabouts of another official named in the case, Muhammad Usman, deputy director of operations at the NCCIA in Islamabad, has also been unknown for several days.
NCCIA Lahore Additional Director Sarfraz Chaudhry, NCCIA Lahore Deputy Director (Acting In-Charge) Zawar Ahmad, NCCIA Lahore Sub-Inspector Ali Raza, NCCIA Lahore Deputy Director Shoaib Riaz, NCCIA Lahore Sub-Inspector Yasir Ramzan, and the deputy director of the NCCIA in Lahore, Mujtaba Zafar, are the six officials who yesterday learned that they had been arrested by the FIA.
Meanwhile, unhappy with the performance of the NCCIA, the Punjab government has in principle decided to create its own wing to deal with the increasing incidents of cybercrime in the province.
After the NCCIA was established in May this year, replacing the Cybercrime Wing of the FIA, the Punjab government attempted to develop a “working relationship” with the federal authority, but it did not yield results.
Meanwhile, the NCCIA itself has been battling severe staff shortages as thousands of complaints come in each month. With a long backlog and limited resources, the authority has not been able to process cases efficiently.
