BAHAWALNAGAR: A six-member honey-trap gang, involved in extorting money from people through blackmail and inappropriate videos was busted at village Khichiwala.

The gang had been trapping well-to-do people across the district for the past several years while the victims used to remain silent due to shame.

The district spokesperson, Zahid Rasool, told Dawn the gang came to light in mid-August when it started trapping an elderly local landowner in Khichiwala, who had recently sold his agricultural land worth Rs10m. By using a woman, the elderly man was lured to the outhouse of one of the gang members at Chak 260/HR where the male suspects drugged him and forced him to have intercourse with the woman at gunpoint while they filmed the act.

Later, the gang blackmailed the landlord to extort Rs100,000 while demanding Rs2.5m more. The gang also threatened him to post his videos on social media and register an FIR against him for committing rape if their demand was not met within a week.

The old man informed his family about his predicament who sought help from Bahawalnagar DPO Naseebullah Khan. The DPO formed a police team under the supervision of the SHO Khichiwala that arrested five of six members of the gang and recovered the inappropriate videos of the old man as well as the ransom amount.

According to the spokesperson, the arrested members, namely two women and three men, used to blackmail wealthy people after setting honey traps for them. He said the investigation revealed that the gang had blackmailed several wealthy citizens across the district and had extorted millions from them.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2024