Sukkur’s cybercrime wing faces dearth of digital equipment

'Most inquiries compromised as parties reach out of court settlement'

HYDRABAD:

A range of shortfalls continue to hamper the performance of Cyber Crime Reporting Centre (CCRC), Sukkur, where in the first seven months of 2021, only 23 cases have been registered with arrests of 28 accused persons.

The centre's in-charge, Amjad Ali Abbasi, disclosed this at a meeting chaired by Federal Investigation Agency Director for FIA Sindh Zone-II, Karachi, Mohammad Younus Chandio on Monday, according to a press release.

According to Abbassi, his circle consisted of nine districts in Sukkur and Larkana divisions but he had to work with a lack of staff, vehicles and equipment. He said they lacked proper security and no weapons were provided to the staff. There is a dearth of digital equipment like laptops, printers, computers, flash drives and other equipment even though they deal with cyber crime.

The centre also requires stationery items, vehicles for conducting raids, courier facility and especially, a dedicated legal assistant director, well versed in cyber crimes and computer literate, to plead their cases. "Most importantly the job security of most of the staff appointed on contract [is needed]."

Read More: FIA officials lack cybercrime knowledge: IHC

The in-charge of FIA CCRC Sukkur said in majority of the cases the accused fail to secure bail from the courts. However, most of the inquiries become compromised because the complainants withdraw the charges after settlement with the accused.

The meeting also discussed matters of improving efficiency of prevailing cybercrime cases. Chandio said the centre should try to provide immediate relief to the complainants and address their grievances at the earliest. Moreover, he directed that "issues related to the financial frauds, modesty of a person, child pornography, Hawala Hundi and AML cases should be prioritised." He assured that the FIA will try to provide all required equipment to the centre.

The zonal director asked the circle heads and the investigating officers (IOs) to reduce the old pending cases of 2017 and 2018 within 10 days.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 10^th, 2021.