Long terms: Five get life for kidnapping for ransom

RAWALPINDI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Wednesday handed down life-terms to five men including four real brothers for kidnapping two men and releasing them after collecting ransom money. ATC-I Special Judge Rai Muhammad Ayub Khan Marth convicted four brothers, Sharif Gul, Zubari Gul, Umer Gul, Rehman Gul and Rasool Muhammad, all natives of Mardan district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa for kidnapping  Waheed Akhtar for ransom. The court, while handing down life sentence, directed the authorities concerned to seize the movable and immovable properties of the convicts. The convicts had kidnapped Waheed Akhtar, owner of a grocery store, and his relative Abdul Hameed from Hassanabdal on November 25, 2014 when they were going home on their motorcycle.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2017.