Facebook 'friend': Man gets life imprisonment for kidnapping

Taimur Alvi had kidnapped 13-year-old from school on pretext of taking him for lunch

KARACHI: The man who kidnapped his teenage Facebook friend for ransom finally met his fate on Tuesday as an anti-terrorism court (ATC) awarded him life imprisonment for the crime.

The ATC-III judge convicted Taimur Alvi for kidnapping his 13-year-old social media friend, Mustafa Dossal, son of a businessman, from his school in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) on the pretext of taking him on lunch some two years ago.



The case was reported in May 2013 after the Dossal family received a ransom call, demanding Rs50 million for the teenager's release.

According to the prosecution, Alvi picked Mustafa from his school in DHA Phase-II for a lunch at his place in DHA Phase-IV. However, he took the boy to Lyari, where he was handed over to alleged gangsters for a ransom bid. The gangsters shifted him to Hub and kept him there in chains, maintained the prosecution.

Meanwhile, the Anti-Violent Crime Cell and Citizens-Police Liaison Committee investigated the case and, through the boy's social media account and mobile record, nabbed Alvi in a raid at his house.

Alvi told the police that he handed the boy over to gangsters to get a share in the ransom amount and disclosed where the captive was being held.

When the police raided the hideout, a shootout took place, in which four kidnappers were killed, while the abducted boy and two policemen were injured.

During the trial, the prosecution produced evidence against Alvi, which proved his key role in the crime. The captive also deposed against the accused and narrated the entire story before the court.

In his judgment, the judge observed that Alvi committed the offence and, therefore, was punished with a 25-year-long jail term.

His moveable and immoveable properties were also ordered to be confiscated.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2016.