Iran arrests 17 over social media horror pranks

TEHRAN: Iranian police have arrested 17 university graduates on suspicion of filming candid camera horror pranks that boosted their social media followings but "sowed panic" in Tehran streets, reports said Tuesday.

Gags included mock murders and a suicide as well as throwing cakes in the faces of passengers on the escalators of the Tehran metro, Iranian newspapers reported. "Police have arrested some individuals who amused themselves by playing on people´s nerves and the peace and security of the public by filming candid camera footage of horror gags on the streets of the capital," Tehran police chief General Hossein Rahimi told the Iran newspaper.

“We arrested 17 people who perpetrated these illegal acts.” The author of the gag filmed on the Tehran metro was open about his motives. “I wanted to make people happy and increase the number of followers on my Instagram page,” he told the Shahab newspaper. But the head of Tehran´s cyber police Colonel Davoud Moazzami expressed outrage that educated people would scare the public for personal gain in this way.

“They filmed these candid camera videos to attract followers and advertising on Instagram and Twitter,” Moazzami said. “All 17 of those arrested had received university educations and worked for respected companies.”