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Tag: crime

  • Mother almost falls for $1 million kidnapping hoax after daughter’s voice is cloned by AI

    A mother from Arizona almost fell for a kidnapping hoax after the culprits used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to clone her daughter’s voice.

    According to People magazine, Jennifer DeStefano shared that her daughter, Briana, was on a ski vacation with her friends when the mother received a phone call from an anonymous number, where she heard her daughter crying and pleading for help.

    “I heard my daughter’s voice crying and sobbing, saying, ‘Mom.’ And I’m like, ‘OK, what happened?’ She’s like, ‘Mom, these bad men have me. Help me, help me.’ “

    A man then talked to her and demanded that she pay $1 million to free her daughter.

    “This man gets on the phone and he’s like, ‘Listen here. I’ve got your daughter. This is how it’s going to go down. You call the police, you call anybody, I’m going to pop her so full of drugs. I’m going to have my way with her and I’m going to drop her off in Mexico,’” she said. “And at that moment, I just started shaking. In the background, she’s going, ‘Help me, Mom. Please help me. Help me,’ and bawling.”

    DeStefano, who was at a dance studio when she received the call, negotiated with the man to take the ransom down to $500,000, while her acquaintance contacted the police and her husband contacted Briana, who revealed that she was safe and in her room.

    “She was upstairs in her room. Then I get angry, obviously, with these guys. This is not something you play around with.”

    DeStefano shared that she was truly shocked how similar her daughter’s voice sounded to the voice she had heard on the phone, which had been cloned by AI.

    “It was completely her voice. It was her inflection. It was the way she would have cried. I never doubted for one second it was her. That’s the freaky part that really got me to my core.”

    Briana also revealed how terrifying this situation could have gotten, had her mother not confirmed her whereabouts:

     “I started to wonder, like, if these people were asking to track my mom and pick her up, they could have obviously been putting some information together to try and track me or some of my siblings to actually make this a reality. So it definitely scared me.”

  • City Police Officer Islamabad directs all SHOs to disclose assets

    City Police Officer Islamabad directs all SHOs to disclose assets

    On Sunday, City Police Officer (CPO) Operations Syed Shahzad Nadeem Bukhari instructed all station house officers (SHOs) to disclose their assets. The CPO also directed that biometric attendance should be ensured in all wings of the operations division, and biometric machines should be installed as soon as possible.

    He added that the weekly performance of each officer will be reviewed, and investigation officers should meet plaintiffs in all cases. These instructions were given at a meeting held to review crime and performance at the divisional level, which was chaired by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad Dr Akbar Nasir Khan.

    It is worth noting that police officers across the country, especially SHOs, face allegations of corruption due to the unlimited powers they hold as the head of police stations. CPO Bukhari urged present and former SHOs to work together to make a concrete action plan to deal with crime, with the main target being criminals and proclaimed offenders. He also instructed the officers to ensure the cleanliness of police stations and to make the patrolling system more efficient.

    According to Dawn, the IGP reviewed the crime performance at the divisional level and directed officers to adopt comprehensive strategies to prevent crime in their respective areas. He suggested that safe city monitoring should be implemented at the police station level to help SHOs trace criminal elements early. The IGP also instructed SHOs to spend more time in police stations and a special plan should be made to eliminate serious crimes, especially street crime, and drug trafficking, particularly in educational institutions. The details of buyers of stolen goods should also be collected, and postmortems should be done on every dead body.

    Moreover, the IGP urged the acceleration of the crackdown on illegal weapons, and the completion of challans of under-investigation cases as soon as possible and submitted to relevant courts. He also emphasised that more personnel were being provided in police stations, and special campaigns against offenders should continue, with offenders brought to justice. The IGP also listened to the problems of all the SHOs and promised to solve them on a priority basis.

  • FIR filed against Gauri Khan over purchase of Lucknow property

    FIR filed against Gauri Khan over purchase of Lucknow property

    An FIR has been filed against Gauri Khan, wife of Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan, in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow.
    Khan is a well-known interior designer who has worked with prominent celebrities like Farah Khan, Ranbir Kapoor and Siddharth Malhotra.


    The FIR was filed under Section 409 of the Indian penal Code which pertains to breach of trust, and was registered with the Sushant Golf City police in Lucknow.
    The complaint was filed by Kirat Jaswant Shah, a resident of Mumbai, who said that he had paid the entire amount for a flat, which was approximately Rs86 lakhs, but had not recieved it. The flat in question is located in the Tulsiani Golf View project in the Sushant Golf City area of Lucknow.
    Along with Khan, who is the brand ambassador for the housing project, other people named in the FIR include Managing Director of Tulsiyani Construction and Development Limited, Anil Kumar Tulsiyana and the director Mahesh Tulsiyana.

  • Father kills sleeping son for not offering fajr prayers

    Father kills sleeping son for not offering fajr prayers

    In a shocking incident, a 24-year-old man named Muhammad Sohail was killed by his father for not offering fajr prayers on Wednesday morning.

    The incident took place in the Gulistan-e-Johar area of Karachi where the father, identified as Haji Muhammad Saeed, returned from offering fajr prayers and found his son sleeping. Without any warning, the father hit the boy with a hammer, killing him.

    The accused claimed that he had repeatedly warned his children, including Sohail, to offer prayers on time, but the victim did not pay heed. Frustrated and angry, he lost control and killed his own son.

    The police were notified of the crime and have arrested the accused. A hammer and a knife, which are believed to have been used in the murder, were also found at the crime scene.

    A murder case has also been registered against the father.

  • Lahore police arrested more than 1,600 criminals in first week of 2023

    Lahore police arrested more than 1,600 criminals in first week of 2023

    During the first week of January 2023, Lahore police arrested 1,657 criminals in total.

    Police detained 254 people on suspicion of possessing illegal weapons and displaying them and 97 people on charges of aerial firing.

    62 people were detained by police on gambling-related offenses. Furthermore, the Lahore Police detained 227 individuals charged with major offenses within the first week of this year. During the first week of 2023, police made 227 proclaimed arrests.

    86 target offenders, 110 court absconders, 117 POs, and 24 criminals in the A category were all apprehended by police.

    Police detained 62 people for violating the kite-flying law. According to the National Action Plan, 114 people were detained under the Sound System Act, 115 under the Arms Act, 74 under the Security of Vulnerable Establishments Ordinance, 254 under the Tenancy Act, and one in a case involving hate speech.

  • Police Rescue 15 helpline received more than 27 million calls in 2022: report

    Police Rescue 15 helpline received more than 27 million calls in 2022: report

    The Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA) has released its annual performance report for 2022.

    The 15 Emergency Helpline received 2,73,61,000 calls, 32,80,141 cases involving grave concerns, and cases for further action were generated by the dispatch control centre. 1,65,25,000 calls were surprisingly deemed irrelevant.

    Police investigators and the Court of Law received 2,004 pieces of audio and video evidence from the Electronic Data Analysis Center.

    According to The News, police in Lahore reported 2,34,000 suspicious observations from PSCA’s Operations and Monitoring Center. In addition to recovering 1,230 motorcycles, 30 vehicles, and 27 auto rickshaws and returning them to their owners, the PSCA Lost & Found centre assisted in the recovery of 109 missing people. 3,736 social media pages were reported to LEAs by the Media Management Center.

    Additionally, 2,790 campaign messages about road safety, effective use of the 15 emergency helplines, and other topics were carried on official social media pages and radio by MMC, PSCA WebTV, and Radio Safe City 88.6. PSCA is committed to extending its assistance and collaboration to LEAs and any other parties in need as needed. 15 helplines are available for residents to call in case of an emergency or to report criminal activities in the city.

    The Safe Cities Authority was crucial to the orderly execution of Ashura, international cricket, and other security tasks in Pakistan this year. This fiscal year, the Safe Cities Authority is attempting to create contemporary centres in Nankana Sahib, Sheikhupura, Sialkot, and Rawalpindi in addition to Lahore and Kasur.

  • Justice Babar Sattar says tweeting in a trend does not constitute a crime

    Justice Babar Sattar says tweeting in a trend does not constitute a crime

    Justice Babar Sattar of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) dismissed a case filed against a citizen for tweeting in a controversial trend on Twitter, reports Samaa.

    In his verdict, Justice Babar Sattar accepted the petition of a citizen against the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) over tweeting against state institutions.

    Justice Sattar observed in the judgement that “Tweeting in relation to any trend cannot itself attract criminal liability unless the words used in the tweet constitute as offensive under a penal statute.”

    The words in the tweet in question attracted no criminal liability, he ruled.

    Justice Sattar noted that the court cannot act unless there is something wrong in the words used by the person writing the tweet while the court held that the purpose of registering an FIR was to impose illegal censorship on the expression of a citizen.

  • Mob in Karachi lynches two telecom workers to death mistaking them as child kidnappers

    Two employees of a telecommunication company were lynched by an angry mob on Friday in Karachi over rumours of child kidnapping. The incident took place in Machar Colony, where two employees of the telecom company were tortured to death by the mob when they came to check the signals of the cellular network in the area.


    Meanwhile, DIG South took notice of the incident and sought a report from Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kiamari, Fida Hussain Janwari, in this regard.
    SSP Kiamari said that both people were employees of a telecom company. “All aspects of the incident are being investigated,” he said.


    The police also confirmed that the victim’s vehicle, bearing registration number ALB- 946, was set on fire.


    Arif, the cousin of one of the victims, Aiman Javed, told reporters at the Civil Hospital’s Trauma Center that the victim was the youngest of his four siblings and had earned an engineering degree from Sindh University.


    “He was working at a telecom company and belonged to Thatta. He was about to get married after some time,” Arif said.


    Meanwhile, the uncle of the other lynched man, Saeed Ishaq Panwhar, also spoke to the media and revealed that he was employed as a driver at the telecom company for the last four to five months.

  • Sindh police launches ‘Talash’ app to fight street crimes in Karachi

    Sindh police launches ‘Talash’ app to fight street crimes in Karachi

    The Talash (search) app was introduced by Sindh Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ghulam Nabi Memon on Monday at Central Police Office in an effort to combat street crime in Karachi with the help of contemporary technology.

    According to Express, the regional police head said that the app would be an “effective tool” in the fight against crime at the launch event.

    “This Talash App will be utilised as an effective and best weapon against crimes and in taking action against criminals,” the IGP said.

    The device’s goal was to enhance criminal investigation and eradication, he continued, adding that the Sindh police were using technology more frequently to reduce crime.

    Memon stated that a committee had been established to give investigators modern training, and that Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had authorised spending money to strengthen policing by purchasing “world-class technology.”

    The IGP stated that the device’s initial rollout was in Karachi and that it would “very soon” expand to other districts.

    The device, according to Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) (Information Technology) Parvez Ahmed Chandio, is intended to reduce street crimes.

    He claimed that it would guarantee identity checks while on patrol. The DIG continued, “This is transportable technology as it is easy to carry it.”

    Chandio emphasised the device’s key attributes by saying, “Data of Nadra (National Database and Registration Authority) and other institutions can be accessible using this device.

  • ‘Khan has confessed his involvement in horse trading in audio leak’: PM Shehbaz

    ‘Khan has confessed his involvement in horse trading in audio leak’: PM Shehbaz

    Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s involvement in horse trading has been confirmed in the alleged audio leak that surfaced a day earlier.

    “Imran Khan has confessed that he was involved in horse trading in the audio,” said PM Shehbaz while lambasting Khan for accusing his opponents of getting an NRO.

    The premier said that no one is above the law, adding that his family suffered the worst cruelty and yet have been appearing before the court.

    “Did any court summon Imran Khan?” he asked.

    “Pakistan’s prime minister was bidding [for people] in the PM house,” PM Shehbaz said outside Special Central Court in Lahore.

    “He had set up a market to buy and sell, and consciences were being sold. Could there be a bigger crime than this by a sitting PM?” the prime minister questioned, referring to the recent audio leaks in which Imran can be allegedly heard talking about buying “five” MNA’s.

    Terming Khan the world’s worst fraud, Shehbaz Sharif asked why the then NAB chairman did not take notice of the £190 million robbery.

    He accused the PTI chairman of hatching a conspiracy against the nation and asked where did he get the money to buy the conscience of five lawmakers?

    “Imran Niazi now you have to answer the nation,” the PM declared.