Rawalpindi Police on Tuesday confirmed the arrest of the leader of an international child abuse gang who used to live-stream abuse on the ‘dark web’.
Police have confirmed that the suspect confessed to sexually assaulting 30 children during interrogation.
According to the police, the suspect, named Sohail Ayaz, was arrested from the city’s Rawat area. He ran a child pornography ring and live-streamed videos of the sexual assaults on the ‘dark web’. The suspect used to kidnap children before he committed the heinous acts.
According to Rawalpindi City Police Office Faisal Rana, Ayaz is currently working with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governance and Policy project as a consultant, and receives a salary of Rs300,000 along with other benefits.
A spokesperson of the Rawalpindi police stated that the suspect was a chartered accountant by profession and was residing in Rawalpindi DHA Phase 8. The suspect is divorced and has a daughter.
Police said that Ayaz used to spend most of his salary on the equipment he used to stream the sexual assaults, adding that his laptop and other equipment have been sent to the forensic lab for tests.
A first information report has been registered against the suspect. According to Rawalpindi City Police Officer Captain Faisal Rana, Ayaz had confessed to raping 30 minors and was earlier deported from both Britain and Italy after serving jail sentences for similar crimes.
CPO Rana revealed that the suspect was employed at a child protection institution in Britain and it was there that he started to sexually abuse suspects.
The most recent of Ayaz’s crime was the rape of a labourer’s daughter. He had also drugged and sexually assaulted a 13-year-old boy for four days and filmed the act to threaten the child.
Police have added that they would register cases on their behalf if the victims’ parents were unable to do so.
Observers have questioned how the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government could have hired a convicted child rapist and if the KP government would be held responsible for this.
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