Police arrest alleged child abusers, search for suspects

MULTAN: Police said they were searching for members of a gang accused of abusing minors and making pornographic videos in a marriage hall in Sahiwal. Four suspects from the group were already arrested in a raid late Friday in the Sahiwal district, said officer Umar Daraz. The men were presented before a court on Saturday, allowing police to question them for four days, reported foreign media. Daraz said police seized 46 pornographic videos from cell phones and a USB drive, which allegedly show the suspects sodomizing boys aged between eight and 12 years. Initial questioning revealed that the one of the gang members is a vendor at the city’s main bus terminal, he said, adding that the man would lure boys who were runaways or begging into the marriage hall. Evidence indicates more suspects are involved in the crime, and police are searching for them, Daraz said. Earlier this year, federal investigators arrested two men on suspicion of links to an international child pornography network. Investigations in that case revealed that one of the men was posting child pornography videos on the dark web. Child abuse is not uncommon in parts of Pakistan, where parliament has recently passed laws to increase punishments for those convicted of such crimes.