Diligence: Kidnapped boy rescued at Torkham Border

Relatives of abductor jailed till teenage boy returned

PESHAWAR: A student of class eight, Mujahid, who had been kidnapped and shifted to Afghanistan was rescued by the police on Monday.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Hayatabad ASP Wasim Riaz said the boy who was barely 13 years old, had been kidnapped by his 26-year-old Afghan neighbour Nauman. He was taken to Afghanistan, along with Nauman’s family on September 9.

“The father of the boy, Khalilur Rehman, a resident of Al-Haram Model Town approached Sarband police and complained that his son Mujahid had gone missing,” Riaz said. “We registered a report and during the course of investigation found Mujahid had been kidnapped by Nauman who had shifted him to Afghanistan,” he said, adding the police acted quickly and arrested the relatives of the accused.

“The arrested relatives called him and Nauman said that he had taken the boy to Afghanistan and he will return after a few days,” Riaz said. However, the kidnapper was told that his relatives will only be released once the boy was handed back to his family, he added.

Riaz said when the accused was pressurised and told that the police and the boy’s parents were waiting for him at Torkham Border, he brought Mujahid there from Kabul and then fled to Afghanistan.

Sarband SHO Qazi Nisar said the child had been reunited with his family but he was reluctant to tell the truth or probably was not too clear about the intentions of the kidnapper.

“We suspect that he was kidnapped to be used in acts of militancy,” Nisar said, adding the police had acted diligently in order to ensure safe return of the boy.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 13^th, 2016.