KARACHI:
Four members of several groups involved in leaking Matric and Intermediate board exam papers and earning millions of rupees have been arrested.
The Karachi police chief has tasked the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) to trace the organized network behind the paper leaks. These ten groups used to leak exam papers to students through WhatsApp groups – the day before exams.
SSP SIU Samiullah Soomro, speaking to The Express PK Press Club, said complaints of online fraud had been received for some time. Surprisingly, the leaked documents were 70 to 90 percent accurate.
One of the suspects is a cybersecurity student. Those arrested had initially created eight WhatsApp groups with more than 1,300 students. In these groups, members were informed the day before the exam that the document had been leaked and was available from the administrator. Interested students can contact them via direct message to obtain the document. During the investigation, police discovered two more WhatsApp groups.
Police arrested the leaders of four of the ten groups. Responding to a question, Soomro said the police suspected that some people from the matric and intermediate boards might also be involved, through whom the documents were initially leaked to the suspects.
However, during interrogation, a suspect named Mubeen – a cybersecurity student – confessed to having created the documents himself using artificial intelligence. He used past documents and guess documents to generate a new document with AI, which is why the leaked documents were never 100% accurate. He then sold these papers to students through WhatsApp groups.
Soomro added that the suspects collected money from the students through JazzCash and Easypaisa, and police obtained records of these transactions.
The main number used to manage WhatsApp groups is from the United Kingdom and efforts are underway to obtain its contact details. Police also recovered money earned from the paper leaks, as well as cell phones, hard drives and transaction records from the suspects.
The arrests were made in Malir, Surjani Town, Gulshan-e-Iqbal and New Karachi areas.
SIU police will present the suspects in court on Tuesday and request their pretrial detention.
