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Court rejects FIA’s request for physical remand; Gulberg Greens tower declared a sub-jail as suspects face possible deportation
BeNewz Report
ISLAMABAD: A joint crackdown by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) has resulted in the arrest of nearly 400 foreign nationals from Sparco Plaza, a commercial tower in Islamabad’s Gulberg Greens, in one of the capital’s largest operations against illegal foreign-run business networks in recent memory.
How the raid unfolded
The operation began after the FIA’s Anti-Human Trafficking Circle received a tip-off on August 11 that between 200 and 300 foreign nationals were allegedly living in Islamabad and running unauthorised commercial ventures in violation of their visa conditions. Acting on the information, an FIA team raided Sparco Plaza and detained 258 foreign nationals on the spot — 188 Vietnamese, 39 Chinese and three Indonesian citizens, according to officials, most of whom had allegedly overstayed their visas, with several found without passports or other travel documents.
Hours later, the NCCIA carried out a separate raid at the same premises, arresting a further 114 foreigners — 111 Chinese and three Vietnamese nationals — in connection with what the agency described as an illegal call centre and cyber-fraud operation. Combined, the two operations put the total number of detainees at close to 400, with more than 250 of them Chinese nationals.
What investigators allege
According to FIA officials, a company operating out of the plaza had been registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) with the assistance of a local individual. While three floors of the building were reportedly used for outwardly legitimate business, investigators allege the fourth floor was being run as a covert call centre.
Officials say the network operated through gambling platforms, dating applications and social media, luring victims — many of them in the suspects’ own home countries — into fraudulent schemes before extorting money from them. The NCCIA separately alleged that a subset of those arrested were running a cyber-romance and sextortion ring, tricking victims into explicit video interactions and then using the recordings for blackmail.
In an unusual development, investigators say they recovered uniforms resembling those worn by Chinese and Vietnamese law enforcement personnel from some of the detained Chinese and Vietnamese nationals, along with digital equipment and other material described as belonging to foreign agencies. Authorities say they are now investigating why the items were in the suspects’ possession and how they may have been used.
Sparco Plaza turned into a sub-jail
Given the scale of the detentions, the Office of the Chief Commissioner, Islamabad Capital Territory, issued a notification declaring Sparco Plaza a sub-jail under the Code of Criminal Procedure, following a request from the district magistrate. Under the order, the FIA’s Director General is responsible for the facility’s security, while an officer of Grade 17 or above will maintain official records.
An Islamabad District and Sessions Court subsequently remanded nearly 400 foreign nationals to judicial custody. All 258 individuals detained in the initial FIA raid have been booked under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act, while those arrested by the NCCIA face additional charges under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA).
Court rejects physical remand; deportation now on the table
In the latest development, the suspects were produced before the court via an online hearing, where investigators sought physical remand to continue questioning them. The court declined the request, meaning the detainees will continue to be held at the Sparco Plaza sub-jail rather than transferred into FIA custody for interrogation.
With physical remand denied, authorities say the foreign nationals now face the prospect of deportation once the ongoing legal proceedings conclude, rather than an extended criminal investigation on Pakistani soil.
Wider context
The FIA said the Sparco Plaza case is part of a broader push against illegal foreign business activity and human trafficking; separately, the agency reported detaining 17 people in Gujranwala, Gujrat and Sialkot on suspicion of involvement in human trafficking around the same period.
The case has drawn wide attention on Pakistani social media and news channels, both for the sheer scale of the arrests — one of the largest single roundups of foreign nationals in Islamabad’s history — and for the unusual detail of law-enforcement-style uniforms being recovered from the detainees, which has fuelled speculation online about the network’s true nature even as police say that angle remains under active investigation.
