Kidnapped baby recovered by police in Islamabad

Day care centre maid arrested for stealing the baby

ISLAMABAD: Police managed to safely recover a child on Wednesday who had been kidnapped from a day care centre in Islamabad on Tuesday.

The incident has cast doubts over the safety of day care centres where people leave their children in the hands of total strangers.

The safe recovery was made possible, particularly due to the availability of the suspect’s address.

Industrial Area police recovered the six-month old girl and arrested a woman and her husband who had kidnapped the child from the day care centre in Sector I-8/2, a police spokesperson said. He said that Asim Waqar lodged a report with Industrial Area police that he and his wife had left their six-month old daughter Rania at a day care centre located at house number 490, street 48, Sector I-8/2.



Waqar said that he and his wife worked in separate offices and their parents were not living with them. In the absence of family support, the parents had no choice but to leave their child in the care of hired helps.

However, the couple received the shock of their lives when they came to pick up their child from the centre on January 9 and were told bluntly that she had been kidnapped.

The management of the centre was however quick to identify the suspect. Waqar said the staff of day care centre told that Rania had been kidnapped by a maid namely Huma.

Huma had been serving at the centre for a long time and had gained the confidence of the management and the parents.

Posse sent

Following this incident, Senior Superintendent of Police (Operations) Sajid Kiani assigned the task to SP (Industrial Area) Liaqat Hayat Niazi to ensure recovery of the baby.

Subsequently, SP Niazi clubbed together a special team under supervision of SDPO Industrial Area Rana Abdul Wahab and SHO Qasim Niazi. The team questioned the day care centre’s staff the nearby people and even the parents of the child and put  the clues together. It was easy sailing once the police got the address of the suspects.

The team raided a village Dhareeka in the Jhang Bahtar suburbs of the capital. The village people startled to see a number of police mobiles quickly guided the force to the house of suspects. However the house was vacant.



The accused were hiding at the house of their relatives, which was soon traced. The woman and her husband readily surrendered.

During the initial investigation Huma confessed that she had kidnapped the baby because she was issue less and wanted to have a child.

Commendation

IGP Islamabad Sultan Azam Temuri and SSP Islamabad Sajid Kiani have appreciated the performance of the police team and announced special prizes and commendation certificates for team members including Sub-Inspector Aashiq Shah and Constable Azhar Javed.



He also awarded special certificate to ASP Industrial Area Rana Abdul Wahab for his tremendous efforts in resolving this case.

Overjoyed

To Waqar and his wife, they had received a new lease of life. The family was elated received the  good news.

Their joy was boundless when the infant was returned to the arms of the mother. They thanked Almighty and the police force for the safe recovery of their child. 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2018.