Used as drug mules: Children return home to their mother

Court hands over custody of three kids after their parent submits bond

RAWALPINDI: Three children, who had been recovered by police from a house where they were chained, were handed over to their mother by a lower court on Saturday.

The court handed the children over after she furnished a surety bond and promised that she would bring them back from Peshawar when required by the police.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Ali Raza handed over 10-year-old Khan Dad, eight-year-old Farisha and six-year-old Sadam, over to their mother. The children were in custody of the Child Protection Bureau of Punjab since May 2.

The children, who hail from the Karkhanoo market in Peshawar, had allegedly been given a packet of drugs weighing around a kilo gramme by suspected drug dealers and put on a bus bound for Rawalpindi. However, a man saw them and chained them up in a rented house in Dheri Hassanabad. There, they were handed over to four men Sheikh Azhar along with Qamar Butt, Ahsan, and Haji Sajid, all said to be ex-policemen.



The men took away the packet of drugs from the children. However, Civil Lines police got wind of the matter and raided the house earlier this week and recovered the children.

The mother of the children, while taking custody of her children told the court that they had left their home on May 1 to play outside. But the children never returned.

She said that she had lodged a complaint with the local police in Peshawar about the disappearance of her children.

The woman said that she later learnt that her children had been recovered from Rawalpindi.

Talking to The Express Tribune, District Child Protection Officer Abid Ali Naqvi said that the children were handed over to their mother after she furnished surety bonds and gave assurance that they would be produced in the court as and when required.

SI Naveed Ahmed of Civil Lines, who is leading the investigations in the case, said that police were looking for the suspects who had detained children.

SI Naveed said that one of the suspects, Qaiser Butt, was a serving police constable had obtained pre-arrest bail in the matter. He added that the other suspects had also secured bail.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2017.