Police in Lahore arrested a young man within hours of a Rs700,000 bank robbery near Bhatta Chowk, saying Safe City and private CCTV cameras were used to trace him. Police said the stolen cash and a weapon were recovered.
DIG Operations Faisal Kamran said a masked suspect took the bank's security guard hostage, reached the cash counter and fled with the money. Police identified the suspect as Subhan, who had recently returned to Pakistan from the United Kingdom.
According to police, the suspect had been playing PUBG for years and told investigators that he had received a bank-robbery 'task' from the game. Police also said their initial investigation suggested he had been influenced by online gaming and web series. That account remains a police claim based on the suspect's interrogation rather than an independently established technical or psychological finding.
Dawn also reported that financial difficulties were part of the alleged motive. Dunya News separately reported the Rs700,000 robbery, the Safe City-assisted arrest and that the suspect was playing PUBG when police reached him.