Lahore court adds two days to remand in Rs35 billion stamp fraud
A judicial magistrate extended custody of two suspects in a counterfeit US postage stamp case; a Florida jury has charged the prime suspect over a $126 million loss to USPS.
A Lahore judicial magistrate on Tuesday granted the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency a further two-day physical remand of two suspects in a counterfeit US postage stamp case that the agency has put at Rs35 billion.
The prime suspect is a 33-year-old resident of Khanewal. The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida said on 28 September that a Florida jury had charged him with defrauding the United States Postal Service of $126 million. Dawn reported that the case concerns the online sale of counterfeit US postage stamps.
The NCCIA's Lahore office announced the arrest in late October, and the suspect was sent on a five-day remand at that stage. Tuesday's order extended the custody of both men by two days.
Dawn put the value of the alleged fraud at Rs35 billion. The loss figure announced by the US Attorney's Office is $126 million to the Postal Service.
The agency has said it is investigating the suspects' roles in the operation. No further details of the Pakistani investigation, or of any charges filed inside the country, were carried in the reports.
How the reports differ
Dawn reported the Lahore remand hearing in the counterfeit US postage stamp case; APP's NCCIA report of the same day concerned a separate matter, the arrest of a suspect in Painsra, Faisalabad, accused of hacking a WhatsApp account and causing a Rs1.3 million loss. The two reports share no facts or figures.
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