LAHORE — Six senior officers of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) were produced on Tuesday before a Lahore magistrate after being taken into custody by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in a widening corruption probe that threatens to shake Pakistan’s newly created cyber-crime apparatus.

The accused — Additional Director Chaudhry Sarfraz, Zawar Ahmad, Shoaib Riaz, Ali Raza, Mujtaba Zafar and Yasir — were brought before Judicial Magistrate Naeem Wattoo. The FIA sought their physical remand, arguing it was essential to interrogate the suspects and recover the alleged Rs 9 million received from the family of YouTuber Saad ur Rehman, popularly known as “Ducky Bhai.”

According to investigators, the officials are accused of exploiting their positions to demand large payments from the influencer’s wife in exchange for “managing” her husband’s cyber-crime case. Senior officials familiar with the inquiry told The Scoop that investigators are following both cash and digital money trails, including cryptocurrency transactions allegedly routed through private wallets controlled by one of the accused officers.

“This is not a routine favour or side deal,” one senior FIA official told The Scoop. “What we are uncovering looks like an organised internal racket — a structured system where suspects were made to pay for relief, and those funds were circulated upward.”

Court documents suggest that portions of the alleged bribe were distributed among multiple officers, while investigators believe part of the money may have been remitted to higher-ups in Islamabad. The defence, however, has rejected the accusations, arguing the arrests were made unlawfully and without mandatory DG-level approval.

Advocate Ali Ashfaq, representing the detained NCCIA officials, told the court the FIR was filed “within minutes” of the complaint and lacked basic particulars such as the address of the complainant. He urged the court to dismiss FIA’s request for remand, calling the case a “targeted move” to malign the NCCIA and reassert FIA control over cyber-crime policing.

After hearing both sides, the court reserved its verdict on the FIA’s remand plea.

The scandal first emerged following Ducky Bhai’s arrest in August at Lahore airport under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016. He was accused of promoting illegal online betting platforms through his channel and was remanded into NCCIA custody. Investigators now allege that some of the same officers who led that operation turned it into a revenue stream by demanding payment for leniency.

A senior federal official overseeing the inquiry told The Scoop: “If the evidence holds, this will expose a corruption network operating inside the very institution meant to protect citizens from digital exploitation. It also raises a serious question: who is policing the cyber police?”

For the government, the outcome is pivotal. If prosecutors substantiate the crypto and cash transfers, it could undermine confidence in the country’s entire digital enforcement framework. If the case collapses, it risks being dismissed as an inter-agency turf battle between FIA and NCCIA.

At stake is more than one bribery case — it is the credibility of Pakistan’s digital policing regime.