Pakistan arrests internationally wanted criminals

Pakistan has arrested two men on the most wanted list of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Interpol, according to a senior official with Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

The FIA’s Mir Mazhar Jabbar said on Saturday that the agency had arrested Noor Aziz Uddin and Farhan Arshad from Karachi, the largest and most populous city of Pakistan.

The two men were wanted by the FBI and Interpol for defrauding several individuals as well as private and government entities of over USD 50 million through cyber means. The victims were in the United States and other countries.

The two suspects accessed business telephone systems and used them to place long-distance telephone calls to premium rate numbers as part of a scheme known as international revenue share fraud, according to the FBI.

According to an FBI announcement in 2013, the two Pakistani nationals were “part of an international criminal ring that the FBI believes extends into Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Spain, Singapore, Italy, Malaysia and other locations.”

The US agency had offered a reward of up to USD 50,000 each for information leading to their arrest.

The FIA also arrested three others, who along with the two internationally wanted criminals, are members of the same extended family, Jabbar said.