The government has launched a probe into alleged data leak from the Prime Minister House after audio clips purportedly of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other surfaced on social media over the weekend.

A meeting of the National Security Committee will discuss the issue on Wednesday.

PTI’s Fawad Chaudhry claimed on Sunday that 8 gigabytes (GB) of data containing audio recordings of the PM House had been made available on the darknet for sale with a price tag of US$345,000.

Although Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said it was not clear how and where the recording was done, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced a joint investigation team on Monday which includes officers from civilian and military intelligence and investigation agencies.

The JIT will determine whether data was obtained through hacking or someone stole it to sell for money, Aaj TV’s Asif Naveed reported.

The staff of the Prime Minister’s House will be interrogated, he said.

The investigation also focuses on the method used for recording the conversations at the PM House. The JIT will determine whether the building was bugged or mobile phones were used for recording.

Under the current SOPs, visitors and staff are not allowed to carry their mobile phones with them into the Prime Minister’s House.

Another question before the JIT is about the people present at the PM House when conversations were recorded.

The directorate of a civil intelligence agency will be required to join the probe.

The Special Branch officials deputed at the PM House for the past six months will face questioning.

Meanwhile, the NSC will discuss the issue in its meeting on Wednesday.

NSC includes chiefs of armed forces and top intelligence officials.