Hostages released after kidnappers get cold feet

Victims, who were students of Class X, were slightly hurt by the culprits

LODHRAN:

Unidentified people who had kidnapped two young brothers for ransom a few days ago in Lodhran dumped them on the roadside and escaped.

Jawad Rafiq and Hamid Rafiq are students of Class X.

The victims’ father, Rana Rafiq, a resident of Gali Tarin Wali, had lodged a complaint with the police in which he said that his sons had been kidnapped by four people from near the Irrigation Bungalow Street on September 11.

The kidnappers took them to a deserted mansion where they kept the two boys hostage for two days. They weren’t provided with any food or water.

A kidnapper struck the chest of the one the boys with a blade and told him that he would send a video of his to his father to demand ransom from him.

Meanwhile, an accomplice of the kidnappers told them about a police search operation in the area. This information perturbed the kidnappers.

As the night fell, the kidnappers threw the two boys in a street next to a government school in front of the grid station in Pipliwala.

The boys had been starving for two days. Some people gave them water and juice.

The SHO of City Police Station, Arsalan, the boys’ father and relatives reached the spot.

Hunger and dehydration had disorientated Jawad and Hamid. They were shifted by the police to the District Headquarters Hospital. They were discharged from the hospital after their condition improved.

DPO Muhammad Kashif Aslam said that when the condition of the boys improved further, police would ask them about their kidnappers so that they could be arrested.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 15^th, 2022.