Kidnap and murder: ‘Abducted child killed for fear of exposure’

Suspects arrested on Wednesday say ransom was to buy gifts for girlfriends


Our Correspondent February 16, 2012

LODHRAN:


Saddar police on Wednesday recovered the body of a six-year-old child on indication of three men arrested earlier in the day for kidnapping and killing him on February 4.


DPO Agha Mohammad Yousaf told The Express Tribune that the body was recovered from a field near Haveli Nasser Khan in Basti Dhand. He said the body had been sent for an autopsy to district headquarters (DHQ) hospital and a case registered against the suspects who have confessed to killing the child after kidnapping him.

Talking to The Tribune, the suspects said they had killed Abbas* a couple of hours after the kidnapping because he was crying very loud. “We tried to pacify him but there was no way he would stop crying,” said Mohsin*, a 10th grade student.

Mohsin and his two accomplices, a ninth grader and a 10th grader, were arrested by Saddar police on Wednesday. They had kidnapped Abbas from a wedding ceremony in the neighbourhood on February 4.

The suspect said they had planned to kidnap Abbas, a neighbour, so that they could use the ransom money to buy gifts for their girlfriends. “I couldn’t afford to buy gifts for my girlfriend with my pocket money.

I discussed the plan with my friends and went ahead after they agreed to be a part of it,” he said.

Abbas’s father Muhammad Ali*, a resident of Hussainabad, told The Tribune that he had approached the police with the complaint after his son was not returned even after he had paid Rs500,000 in ransom.

He said the kidnappers had asked for Rs2 million but later settled for Rs500,000. He said he had left the money in a field as agreed with the kidnappers.

He approached the police when his son was not returned until five hours after the promised time. “I had been told Abbas would be sent home once they had collected the money,” he said.

DPO Agha Mohammad Yousaf said the police arrested the suspects by tracing the phone calls they had made to the family. He said Mohsin was caught from his house in Hussainabad. During interrogation, he said, Moshin told the police about his accomplices who were also arrested the same day.

*Names have been changed to protect the identity of the victim and the suspects

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17th, 2012.

COMMENTS (5)

Ali | 12 years ago | Reply

Law minister can you speak on poor law & order conditions of the Punjab.

Hassan.Ahmed | 12 years ago | Reply

@ Rizwan, Rather than acknowledge the two horrific facts that stand in your face, you choose to point fingers at the media's credibility?

A 6 year old child has just lost his life!!!!!!!!!!

The youth of our country, regular school going kids, are capable of such a horrendous act and the motive behind this butchery was to buy presents for their girlfriends!!!! The fact that anyone in the country, child or adult, is capable of scheming a kidnap, a murder...No that's not worth a thought, oh no, you'd rather fling dirt on the media for actually alerting the people of the direction we're headed in. you're criticizing them for giving us a wake up call?? After having read your comment, i now have no doubt whatsoever, towards the validity of this piece of news, because if you are possible, so is this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Shame on us!

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