Three 'kidnappers' of schoolchild arrested

Five-year-old Shahvez was abducted in DHA on his way to school on April 4

KARACHI: The Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC), a specialised cell of the Karachi police, claimed on Friday to have arrested three suspects allegedly involved in the short-term kidnapping of a schoolchild in Defence Housing Authority (DHA).



According to the police, the suspected kidnappers, identified as Sajjad Iqbal, Hasnain Hussain and Sharafat Ali, were involved in the short-term kidnapping of five-year old Shahvez Ahmed on Khayaban-e-Tariq in DHA Phase-VIII on April 4. The boy was kidnapped when he was on his way to school with his father, Syed Omar Ahmed.

At least two kidnappers took the boy away in a car while three others stayed with the father. They demanded Rs150 million ransom money from the family and warned them of dire consequences in case they contacted the police.



However, the boy was recovered when the car transporting him was intercepted by a police team that was conducting snap-checking in the area. The kidnappers opened fire on the police and were killed when the force returned fire. The police safely recovered Shahvez from the car. In the meantime, the three kidnappers who had stayed with the father fled the scene, leaving him unharmed.



AVCC SSP Irfan Bahadur claimed that the three kidnappers who had escaped that day were arrested in DHA Phase-VIII during a raid conducted on a tip-off. The SSP added that one of the arrested suspects, Iqbal, was the family's driver and he confessed to his involvement in the crime. According to the officer, he had hatched the plan to kidnap the child along with his accomplices.