Bitcoin Kidnappers Busted in Pakistan, Local Officials Are Part of the Gang

Shahid Naseer, who was abducted in Lahore, Pakistan, over a week ago, has been released and the criminals arrested after they received the ransom.

BTC ransom required for a university professor

IT professor Shahid Naseer disappeared nearly ten days ago. The kidnappers demanded 20 mln rupees in Bitcoin as ransom. One of the professor’s students became the major suspect when the police started the investigation, the local media reports.

Local officials proved to be involved

The investigators found out that three of its officials assisted the gang that demanded the ransom. One official, an assistant to the Lahore’s Deputy Commissioner, was taken into custody on March 23. The other two criminals from the police were ensuring the security of a high court judge. They are now detained as well.

Bitcoin exchanger helps the gang

One more person involved in the kidnapping was a local man who exchanged crypto for rupees and vice versa in the city. He was charged with helping the gang to exchange the crypto they were planning to receive as the ransom.

When conducting the kidnapping, the criminals rented a car and put a green license plate on it, which is a sign that a car belongs to an official in Pakistan.

The 2.5 mln rupees that the family paid to buy the kidnapped professor out is worth around 9 BTC. The police apparently managed to track the transaction and thus identified the guilty parties.

The police believe that professor Naseer may have taught his students blockchain and digital assets, and this was the reason why he was kidnapped.

Bitcoin ransoms become popular

These days, crypto assets more and more often become the payment method that kidnappers prefer. In winter this year, a US citizen was kidnapped in Costa Rica, and he was released for a BTC ransom totalling $1 mln.

In a separate case this winter, a child was abducted in Africa and ransom in Bitcoin was also demanded. Previously, U.Today reported about the kidnapping of a billionaire’s wife in Norway, where the criminals required $9 mln in Monero.

Unlike Bitcoin transactions, XMR transfers cannot be traced, since it is a privacy-oriented coin.