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Massive child sex abuse scandal rocks Pakistan

ISLAMABAD - Police in eastern Pakistan say they've arrested seven men accused of sexually abusing children and distributing videos of the abuse.

Kasur district regional police chief Shahzad Sultan says investigators are sifting through evidence Sunday, including 18 or 19 videos seized so far. It was not yet known how many children were abused or if there were other videos.

Al Jazeera reports 400 video recordings of more than 280 children being forced to have sex have been discovered. They also claim that a gang of 25 men has been involved in the crime, coordinating it.

Officer Babar Saeed says it's not clear how long the suspects were allegedly sexually abusing the children. He says police are investigating claims the suspects were blackmailing the victims' families, demanding money in exchange for not making the videos public.

The allegations became public after victims' families clashed with police last Tuesday, complaining authorities were ignoring their cases.

Child Protection Bureau chief Saba Sadiq has demanded a high-level judicial probe.

Some in Pakistan are calling this the biggest scandal of its sort in the country's history, even worse than the infamous serial killer Javed Iqbal, who is reported to have killed and abused 100 teenage boys.

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