Pakistan police arrest suspects in first Bitcoin robbery case
2 min readTL;DR Breakdown:
- Police have arrested two suspects involved in the recent Bitcoin robbery case in Pakistan.
- The prime suspect is still at large.
The local police of Gujranwala have reportedly arrested two persons allegedly involved in the Bitcoin robbery case that happened in Pakistan earlier this week. According to the report today, the police said the culprits stole Rs14.7 million (or $202,701) worth of cryptocurrency. The authorities were able to detect and arrest the two suspects because of their vehicle numbers. While they remain in detention, the other persons involved in the robbery are yet to be found.
First Bitcoin robbery case in Pakistan
Cryptopolitan reported the incident on February 15, where two foreigners, namely Stephan Ehrhardt and Maria Spari, were invited to the country by a Pakistani, Rana Irfan Mehmood, for an investment deal. Mehmood, together with some other persons, betrayed the foreign investors and took them hostage. According to the police, the kidnappers sprinkled heroin on the foreigners and threatened to expose them as drug smugglers.
Due to the threats, the kidnappers were able to make the investors transfer cryptocurrencies to them, worth thousands of dollars. While two suspects have been identified, the Gujranwala police said the prime suspect is still at large. However, the arrested persons should lead up to the detention of other persons involved in the Bitcoin robbery, if really they were involved.
Bitcoin robbery in HK
Recently, a similar incident happened in Hong Kong, where a female trader was robbed after selling her cryptocurrencies P2P with a buyer on the street. As Cryptopolitan reported, she precisely traded more than $450,000 worth of USDT stablecoin with the buyer, after which she was robbed by a gang of thieves at knifepoint. Another trader was also robbed in Hong Kong after transferring 15 BTC (currently worth over $770,000) to the supposed buyers.
