Gang involved in 100 abductions busted

Girls taken away from Lahore were sold in Kacha area, claim police

LAHORE:

Police claimed to have busted a gang allegedly involved in trafficking over 100 girls abducted from different areas of Lahore, especially the Data Darbar and huts on the banks of River Ravi, has been busted.

This was disclosed by Punjab Police officers during the hearing by the Lahore High Court of a case of a girl who had been missing for seven months.

The officers appeared before LHC Justice Farooq Haider with the abducted girl after recovering her and submitted the report.

Sheikhupura District Police Officer Zahid Nawaz Marwat said the prime suspect, Lateefan Bibi, had made a hone call demanding Rs2.5 million in ransom from the mother of the girl.

The Police traced the call and pursued the investigation.

During the investigations carried out over the past month, the police conducted raids in Multan, Mirpur, Ghotki and finally rescued the kidnapped girl a riverine Kacha area in Jacobabad.

The official said the police had arrested
eight suspected members of the gang.

They had been involved in abducting more than 100 girls, he claimed.

The arrested suspects include Lateefan, Irum, Nasreen Bibi, Aftab and Nadeem.

The police have obtained their physical remand.

Initial investigations suggested that the suspects lived in huts near the Ravi and targeted homeless children around Data Darbar and in slum areas near the river.

They also allegedly lured girls through the social media and sold them in the riverine area of Sindh after abduction, an official alleged.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 12^th, 2023.