US embassy ‘shares information’ with police about ‘kidnapped’ woman

Police say main suspect in alleged abduction of US-Pakistani woman under arrest

RAWALPINDI:

Police on Wednesday briefed US embassy officials about the investigation into the alleged abduction of Pakistani-American woman, Wajiha Swati from the Morgah area of Rawalpindi two months ago.

The US embassy officials met with City Police Officer Sajid Kayani and Senior Superintendent of Police (Investigation) Syed Ghazanfar Abbas to discuss the case. The police officials shared with the embassy officials the progress made so far in the investigation.

Sources said that the US embassy officials also shared information with the police.

The investigation team has also formally arrested Rizwan Habib, the husband of the woman, two months after the alleged kidnapping.

Wajiha Swati was allegedly abducted on October 16. A case was registered at the Morgah Police Station on a complaint of her eldest son Abdullah Mehdi, who is based in the US. In the FIR, Rizwan Habib was nominated as the main accused.

A police officer said that Wajiha Swati went missing on October 16 and her cell phone number was going off since then.

The police official said they also tried to trace the number provided by the attorney of the plaintiff, however, it was found that she never used the number in Pakistan.

According to the information provided by the woman’s family, Habib and Wajiha have divorced but the accused claimed that he has not divorced his wife.

The police said that they did not arrest the accused for two months because he fully cooperated with the investigation team and came to the police station whenever called for questioning. The police said that the woman had come to Pakistan with her nephew Ayan Khan via Britain.

According to the police, there was also a property dispute between Habib and Wajiha that has also been included in the investigation. The police said that Habib was produced in the local court which granted his physical remand. The police said that they were trying to recover the abducted woman as soon as possible.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 23^rd, 2021.