KARACHI: A judicial magistrate on Friday granted bail to 108 suspects arrested by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) in a case pertaining to the theft of credit card data through ‘spoofed calls’.
The NCCIA had on Nov 4 claimed to have arrested 273 suspeet s, including women, in a raid on an ‘illegal’ call centre on Sharea Faisal. A day earlier, due to a large number of held persons, the Sindh home department declared the call centre premises as a sub-jail from where the NCCIA produced the suspects via video link beforeJudicial Magistrate (East) Gulraiz Memon, who had sent 108 suspects to prison on judicial remand and handed over nine suspects, including the owner of the call centre, to the NCCIA custody for further questioning.
He also granted bail to 98 women and 58 underage boys for being juvenile suspects.
With the latest decision of the magistrate, the number of individuals granted bail since Thursdayhasreached264.
On Friday, 108 suspects filed bail applications through their counsel, Advocate Shahab Sarki.
Advocate Sarki submitted that the NCCIA had not obtained search or seizure warrants as required under Section 33 of the Prevention ofElectronic Crimes Act (Peca).
He argued that five of the provisions included in the FIR carried a maximum punishment of three years in prison or a fine.
He added that there were several precedents set by the higher courts for granting bail to applicants in such circumstances.
Advocate Sarki maintained that the forensic examination of the seized digital devices would take time and requested the court to grant bail to the applicants.
After hearing arguments from the NCCIA and the defence, the court granted bail to 108 suspects against surety bonds of Rs20,000 each.
The NCCIA booked all the suspects in a case registered under Sections 3 (unauthorisedaccess to information system or data), 4 (unauthorised copying or transmission of data), 13 (electronic forgery), 14 (electronic fraud), 16 (unauthorised use of identity information) and 26 (spoofing) of Peca, read with Sections 109 (abetment) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
According to the FIR, acting on a tip-off about an alleged ‘illegal call centre’, the NCCIA raided the premises and found that the owners of the call centre were allegedly involved in ‘suspicious/illegal activities’.
It claimed that they failed to provide satisfactoryresponsesto queries, following which the agency seized digital equipment.
Initialinterrogation revealedthat the suspects were allegedly engaged in ‘fraudulent activities, including making spoofed calls via a cloud-based dialler’.
The FIR alleged that the suspectscarried outfraudulent and illegal transfers of funds by obtaining personal and sensitive information for wrongful gain. It added that they manipulated foreign nationals through carefully prepared scripts and rebuttals designed to deceive them and gain their trust.
It claimed that the agents at the call centre allegedly obtained the victims’ personal information and bank details while posing as authorised representatives of regulated financial institutions in the United States.that the suspects were allegedly engaged in ‘fraudulent activities, including making spoofed calls via a cloud-based dialler’.
The FIR alleged that the suspectscarried outfraudulent and illegal transfers of funds by obtaining personal and sensitive information for wrongful gain. It added that they manipulated foreign nationals through carefully prepared scripts and rebuttals designed to deceive them and gain their trust.
It claimed that the agents at the call centre allegedly obtained the victims’ personal information and bank details while posing as authorised representatives of regulated financial institutions in the United States.