15-year-old ‘killer’ inspired by crime series arrested in Quetta

QUETTA: SSP Serious Crimes Unit Zohaib Mohsin announced the arrest of a 15-year-old suspect named Mushtaq Hussain, alias Mehdi, in the murder of a young boy, Arman Ali, on September 20. The boy was found bru tally killed and partially burned in Hazara Town. He made the announce ment in a press conference in DIG office, Quetta on Sun day. SSP Operations Quetta Mohammad Baloch was also present. SSP Serious Crime Unit revealed that during the inves tigation, the suspect con fessed to planning the crime after watching scenes from crime series on social media. He lured the boy, whom he did not know, with juice and then attacked him, claiming he acted based on what he had seen in those series. He further said that the police station in Brewery reg istered a case on behalf of the victim’s father, Muhammad Naeem. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to investigate the incident, which included officers from the Serious Crimes Inves tigation Wing, Operations, Analysis Wing, IT, and Crime Scene. They reported that the SIT worked day and night, conducting geofencing of the crime scene and obtaining footage from nearby CCTV cameras with the assistance of FC Balochistan. Based on the footage, suspicious indi viduals were brought in for questioning. SSP further revealed that on September 29, 2024, the suspect, Mushtaq Hussain alias Mehdi, aged 15, son of Muhammad Arif from Hazara Town, Quetta, was included in the investigation. During questioning, Mehdi confessed to the crime, explaining that he had been watching crime-related series on social media for a long time and had been playing mobile games. With these influences in mind, he planned the crime. He took a knife and a ham mer, hid them in a school bag, and went to the crime scene, where he found a child flying a kite. After offering the child juice, he took him inside a building and, emulating scenes from the crime series, killed the child. To conceal the crime, he poured petrol on the body and set it on fire. Evidence, including the murder weapon, was recov ered. The case is ongoing, with further medical exam inations pending to determine if sexual assault occurred