'Honey-trapping': Young women gang busted in Lahore for blackmail, kidnapping, extortion

Lahore City Police have busted a gang operating in the Kot Lakhpat area of the city, including young women and police officials allegedly involved in blackmail, kidnapping, torture, and extortion.

According to a report published in Dawn, police arrested six suspects, including three police officials and three women, after a businessman became a victim of the gang.

An officer revealed that the gang was being run by three police personnel who used young women to trap their targets. He stated that a young man named Kamran Abbas, a resident of Model Town, became friends with a girl on TikTok. The girl invited Kamran on a date at a location on Chandrai Road.

As soon as Kamran reached the designated spot, the girl led him to a quarter where four armed accomplices were already waiting for them. The suspects held the young man at gunpoint and detained him inside the quarter, where they brutally assaulted him using the butts of their guns, punches and kicks. They then demanded a ransom for his release.

The assailants recorded a video clip of the beating, which later surfaced on social media. In the video, the young man was seen crying and pleading for release, offering the kidnappers anything they wanted. He also begged them not to expose the incident to his family and relatives, fearing that it would ruin his career and reputation. However, the armed gang continued to assault him mercilessly.

Officials disclosed that the investigation revealed the gang had previously used young models, actresses, and other women to trap multiple businessmen, celebrities, and influential figures, extorting money from them.

A similar case came to light in July last year when Lahore police arrested nine suspects, including two women, for kidnapping and robbing a well-known playwright through a honey trap scheme.

In another case reported in August 2024, Gulberg police arrested a doctor and two women for allegedly blackmailing, torturing, and recording a businessman’s intimate video in a hotel room where he had been called to finalize a business deal with a private company owner.

Authorities further stated that a Deputy Attorney General of Punjab was also allegedly involved in the case, and police registered a case against the suspects.

Officials also revealed that a gang, including a young woman, had previously entrapped a senior lawyer in Lahore and blackmailed him for money.

Regarding the latest incident, Lahore Operations DIG Faisal Kamran expanded the investigation upon learning that three police officials were among the key suspects. These officers had previously used the same women to trap multiple victims in honey trap schemes.

DIG Kamran has suspended the involved police officials and initiated their dismissal process, ordering strict action against them for tarnishing the reputation of the department.