Two arrested in Gujranwala for luring men on social media, kidnapping them

GUJRANWALA: Police have arrested two of a group that would lure young men through social media and kidnap them for ransom.

According to the Gujranwala police, the group had created fake profiles of women on social media, through which they invited young men to meet them. When the victims would go to meet those “women” the accused kidnapped them.

However, police arrested two accused during a raid following a complaint filed by the family of one of the victims.

Police said Salman, a resident of Peoples Colony, was called at Iqbal Park by the accused, Faisal and Mohsin, who pretended to be a woman on social media. When Salman reached the park, the accused kidnapped him. They then called his family to demand ransom, but the latter reported the incident to the police.

Subsequently, police traced the kidnappers through the phone number they had called Salman’s family from.

The accused were arrested while investigation was under way to find out about other members of the group.

Cases of digital kidnapping have been reported in the past as well.

In 2013, police busted a gang that used a female member to trap youngsters and eventually kidnap them.

The gang included a lawyer, his wife, the son of a policeman and four others, amd was active in the industrial town of Gujranwala.

They trapped youngsters through Facebook, a senior police official, Shoaib Khurram, had told AFP. The woman of the gang was assigned to trap the targetted young men by inviting them on dates, while the other would kidnap them.