Kidnapping incidents on the rise across ex-FATA

Police foil attempt to kidnap youth in Salarzai

BAJAUR:

The incidents of kidnapping have been on the rise in the tribal belt of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), causing widespread panic among the local residents.

On Thursday, police in Bajaur tribal district foiled yet another attempt to kidnap a 19-year-old man and arrested the kidnappers along with the vehicle.

Police said that Salahudin son of Mashooq was made hostage at gun point in Salarzai area of Bajaur and bundled into a motor car but local residents spotted this and informed police.

“Police acted in a timely manner and recovered the young man who is a tailor by profession,” said a police official while talking to The Express Tribune.

He said that the kidnappers had a money dispute with Salahudin for which they tried to kidnap him. An FIR has been registered with Salarzai police station against the accused and their vehicle has also been taken into possession.

It may be recalled that on Tuesday, local residents also foiled an attempt to abduct a minor girl in Loai Baba area of Khar and arrested a nomad who was later handed over to police.

Police said that before handing him over to police, the accused received heavy drubbing from the locals.

“The accused has been identified as Sher Khan resident of Peshawar and his wife Nasrat Bibi is also involved in the crime,” said an official of Khar police station, adding that the couple belongs to a nomadic family and they were trying to lure the child away with them but spotted by the locals and caught red-handed.

Police registered an FIR against the couple and started investigation in the case.

Last week police in Dera Ismail Khan recovered an eight-month-old girl who had been abducted during the distribution of free flour.

With the record inflation across the country, the age-old profession of kidnapping small kids to be sold to wealth childless people has resurfaced in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

Published in The Express Tribune, April 15^th, 2023.