Inspector General of Police Ghulam Nabi Memon, while confirming the arrest of a CTD officer, said efforts were on to nab another police officer allegedly involved in the crime.

The victim, 30-year-old Muhammad Arsalan, was abducted from Manghopir district in northwest Karachi. According to Arsalan, the kidnappers forced him to transfer $340,000 from his Binance account to wallets they controlled and then released him within a few hours near the Quaid-e-Azam monument.

Arsalan shared details about the incident in a post on Facebook, but some claims—especially the amount transferred and the sequence of the incident—could not be verified by independent sources. Arsalan claimed that the stolen $277,000 was transferred to a wallet through decentralized exchanges and then moved to another platform other than Binance.
Anti-Violent Crimes Squad (AVCC) arrested Muhammad Rizwan Shah, Tariq Hasan Shah, Muzamil Raza and four other suspects. AVCC officials stated that the operation was led by team leader SSP Aneel Haider Minhas. However, the exact timeline of the arrests and details regarding evidence linked to the crime are unclear.

The AVCC alleged that the suspects were criminals who had previously been imprisoned for similar crimes, but there are no public records or court documents confirming this characterization.

Arsalan stated that a few weeks before the incident, a person named Hamid contacted him to buy US dollars. At Hamid’s insistence, Arsalan organized a meeting with a friend. The day before the incident, three people came to Arsalan’s office and invited him to a restaurant.

It remains unclear why Arsalan trusted those he had previously suspected and whether he took any precautions to verify their identities.

Arsalan stated that he was kidnapped by armed men in an unmarked police vehicle at night. Those demanding ransom detained him near the Saddar FIA office, forced him to open his Binance account, and then reset his phone and released him.

Arsalan said he was released at 4 am near the Quaid-e-Azam Memorial.

IGP Memon maintained that this was an isolated case of misconduct by police officers, but critics say there needs to be a more transparent internal investigation.

In his Facebook post, Arsalan expressed his regret for the money he lost and criticized those who claimed that the incident was fiction. He also stated that the investors or their relatives were not involved in the incident and that he would compensate for the losses incurred.

This incident has raised serious questions about the safety of cryptocurrency traders and abuses of power by law enforcement in Pakistan. Experts say that this incident is a warning that stronger legal regulations are needed to protect digital assets.