After two weeks of captivity, ‘Mr Books’ recovered

The owner of one of the city’s largest bookstores had been kidnapped.

ISLAMABAD:

The city police on Tuesday recovered the owner of Mr Books, who had been kidnapped two weeks ago from near his shop in Supermarket in F-6.

The kidnapped businessman’s family sought the Kohsar police’s help after exhausting their personal contacts. The kidnappers were demanding Rs25 million for Muhammad Yousuf’s release.

The Kohsar police said they arrested three men and a woman involved in the kidnapping. The kidnappers were tracked through their phone calls, police added.

“The kidnappers were professionals. They took special care and kept changing the location from where they made phone calls to the victim’s family,” said a police official. He said the kidnappers called from Bannu, Bajaur and Rawalpindi.

The kidnappers first established contact with Yousuf’s daughter and made the ransom demand to her. However, last week, Yousuf’s son Saad lodged a complaint with the police. “They were afraid of contacting the police because the kidnappers had threatened to harm their father if they contacted us,” said a police official.

Yousuf was recovered from a house on Tipu Road, in the outskirts of the city. He had been moved there after being kept in a house on Kuri Road for the first three days, the suspects told the police during initial investigations.

A police team led by City Superintendent of Police (SP) Captain (retd) Muhammad Illyas took part in the hunt for the missing businessman. The police team conducted surveillance at various points in the outer cordon of the twin cities and successfully reached the house, where they found Yousaf in poor health.

The police identified “Haji Saab” as the ring leader of the gang, while the other male members were Gul Dasta, Mumraiz Khan and Aqeel Sethi. Two suspects are still on the run.

Islamabad IGP Bani Amin said the busted gang of kidnappers were also wanted for various other criminal activities in K-P, Rawalpindi and other districts.

He appealed to citizens to be extra vigilant around women who ask for help in unusual circumstances, as they are often fronts for criminals to trap targets for kidnapping or robbery. He said there have been cases where people became victims of serious crimes this way.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 23^rd, 2012.