Lahore: Muhammad Raza Dar, grandson of Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister Ishaq Dar, and three others have been arrested in Lahore for the alleged abduction and gang-rape of two foreigners.
Authorities said that the charge sheet described it not as a spontaneous crime, but a carefully constructed trap, as reported by WION.
The two survivors, from the Netherlands and Venezuela, were not random targets. They were cultivated, trusted, invited, and then allegedly held captive, assaulted, and extorted.
The first meeting took place in Singapore in October 2025. Dar first met the two women through the world of cryptocurrency, a space where large sums move quickly, identities are loosely verified, and trust is built on projected wealth and technical credibility.
He presented himself as a serious business partner and the three entered into a joint cryptocurrency investment venture. The women initially put in around $60,000. Over the following months, as the relationship appeared to deepen and returns seemed promising, their total investment grew to approximately $500,000. Nothing in that period appears to have raised red flags.
After months over which apparent trust was established, Dar extended an invitation to the women to visit Pakistan for business.
He reportedly arranged their business visas himself, handling the paperwork and facilitating the process. This was important. By controlling the visa process, Dar ensured the women arrived in Pakistan through his channels, on his timeline, and without independent contacts in the country.
The two women had every reason to believe they were travelling for a legitimate business meeting with a partner they had known for eight months when they boarded their flights to Lahore.
The women reached Lahore on June 29, 2026 and were abducted shortly thereafter, they told the police. Dar, along with his accomplices, Hassan Raza, Sikandar Khan, Sajid Ali, and a fifth man identified in the FIR only as ‘Boss’ took the women to an abandoned house in the city. The transition from business guests to captives happened within hours of landing. They were in a foreign country, with no independent network, no local contacts, and documents arranged by the man who had just abducted them.
The FIR states that the women were subjected to repeated gang rape and physical assault in the house. Their cash was taken from them and they were threatened with death if they resisted. Threats of organ harvesting were also made to ensure compliance, a source claimed. The five accused allegedly took turns. The women were held captive while negotiations over a ransom unfolded.
Investigators have said that the abduction and assault were not purely an act of violence. It was also a financial extraction. The accused demanded $1.5 million, equivalent to approximately 450 million Pakistani rupees, to be paid in cryptocurrency.
The demand was linked back to the original investment; the crypto venture that had drawn the women to Dar in Singapore was now being used as leverage to extort them. Pay $1.5 million, or face continued captivity, violence, and threats. The choice of cryptocurrency as the ransom medium was deliberate – it is harder to trace, faster to transfer, and crosses borders without banking scrutiny.
While Dar, Raza, Khan, and Ali were arrested and produced before the Lahore Cantonment court, which granted the police a five-day physical remand, less than the 14 days investigators had requested, the fifth accused, referred to only as ‘Boss’ in the FIR, is still at large.
Raids are reportedly underway and Pakistani social media and at least one journalist have suggested that when the ‘Boss’ is identified, the revelation will be more shocking than anything that has already emerged in this case.
Neither Ishaq Dar, nor the Pakistani government has made any formal comment. The diplomatic exposure, with the Netherlands and Venezuela both affected – is significant.
