Pakistani authorities have now arrested and charged over 500 foreign nationals across multiple operations in Islamabad. These arrests come after authorities uncovered a layered cybercrime infrastructure operating under the cover of legally registered businesses.
The crackdown, which began on August 12 and expanded on August 13, involves the FIA and the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency working in parallel across separate but connected cases.
In the initial operation, nearly 400 foreign nationals were arrested in a joint crackdown across Islamabad. FIA detained 258 Chinese nationals under the Foreigners Act after they failed to produce valid documentation establishing legal status in Pakistan. NCCIA arrested a further 116 Chinese nationals during raids on illegal call centers operating in the capital. Authorities designated SPARCO Plaza in Gulberg Greens as a sub-jail to hold the detainees, with the Islamabad Chief Commissioner issuing the notification immediately.
The arrested individuals included nationals from China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia. FIA verified the Vietnamese nationals through the Integrated Border Management System and confirmed they had entered Pakistan on visit, tourist, or business visas. All of them allegedly violated their visa conditions by engaging in unauthorized business activities and running illegal call center operations.
The situation escalated on August 13 when interrogation of the detained suspects produced important revelations about the scope of the criminal infrastructure. NCCIA registered a fresh case against 138 additional foreign nationals after discovering that the suspects had registered a company with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) for what appeared to be a legitimate IT business. The registration gave the operation a legal facade. However, behind it, investigators allege the company served as a front for producing and selling obscene content online and conducting broader cybercrime operations.
The raid that triggered the new case recovered digital evidence and equipment that investigators linked to foreign intelligence or law enforcement operations. Officials found uniforms and official stamps belonging to a Vietnamese law enforcement agency inside the premises. The presence of foreign law enforcement materials inside a private commercial operation in Islamabad raises questions that investigators have not yet publicly answered about who was running this infrastructure and why.
NCCIA separately announced the arrest of 114 foreign nationals, including 111 Chinese and 3 Vietnamese citizens, connected to what the agency described as a cyber-romance and sextortion network. The suspects allegedly used electronic tools and online platforms to lure foreign nationals into explicit video interactions. They then weaponized the recorded material for financial extortion. NCCIA registered the case under Sections 14 and 21 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act alongside Sections 419, 420, 34, and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
In November 2025, the FIA’s Anti-Corruption Circle registered a case against 10 NCCIA officers, including two Additional Directors, for allegedly protecting 15 illegal call centers run by foreign nationals in a private housing society in Rawalpindi. Those officers allegedly collected approximately Rs. 15 million per month in bribes, totaling roughly Rs. 250 million in cumulative illicit gains. The corruption scandal revealed that some NCCIA personnel were actively shielding the very operations the agency was supposed to be dismantling.
The scale of arrests, the SECP-registered company serving as cover, and the discovery of Vietnamese law enforcement materials all point toward an operation far more organized than a collection of independent scammers working from rented offices.
