Pakistan: Four arrested for showing off arms, ammunition in TikTok videos from Punjab

Police in Pakistan on September 12 arrested four men for showing off weapons and ammunition in videos they posted on popular video-sharing platform TikTok.

The police arrested the accused during several raids in the Tibba Sultanpur area, near the Multan-Vehari road and recovered weapons from their possession, local news outlets reported.

The suspects regularly posted videos featuring weaponry and ammunition, police told local media. A case has been registered against all four arrested men.

According to Pakistan’s gun laws, public display of weapons is an offence and carries a penalty of up to seven years in prison.

Earlier in June, Islamabad police had arrested a man for shooting videos with arms and ammunition and posting them on TikTok.

Such posts violate TikTok’s latest community guidelines.

The guidelines posted online state: “To protect our community, we generally do not allow the depiction, trade, or promotion of firearms, ammunition, firearm accessories, or explosive weapons. We also prohibit instructions on how to manufacture those weapons. We may give exceptions to content that displays firearms or other types of weapons in the following scenarios: in a fictional setting, as part of a museum's collection, carried by a police officer, in a military parade, or used in a safe and controlled environment such as a shooting range.”