Kidnapped minor girl reunited with family

The victim, taken from Shehzad Town on Monday, was recovered from Mardan.

ISLAMABAD:

A minor girl who was kidnapped from Shehzad Town earlier this week was recovered by the capital police from Mardan on Friday. Overconfidence of the gang of kidnappers helped the police trace and arrest them from the neighbouring Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s city. They had left the number for the cell phone at the place in Shehzad Town from where they kidnapped the four-year-old Humail so her family could contact them for a ransom payment.

The child was playing outside her house on August 5 when she was kidnapped by two men on a motorbike. A woman from the neighbourhood saw the incident and later provided the police with an eyewitness account.

“The police found a phone number written on a paper from the site of the incident which helped trace the suspects,” city’s police chief Bani Amin said on Friday.

Superintendent of Police Captain (retd) Muhammad Illyas and Margalla Assistant Superintendent of Police Mustansir Feroz led the investigation that traced the girl to Sher Garh in Mardan District, where she was being held by five men.

Using the phone number left by the kidnappers, the police traced the first suspect, Muhammad Saeed, who led them to the alleged mastermind behind the kidnapping, Alamgir Khan, a resident of Chakri. He was contacted through Saeed and was asked to come to Melody Market, from where he was arrested.

During the interrogation, Alamgir said the girl was kidnapped by another man, Muhammad Ali from Sher Garh. Alamgir had to pay Rs50,000 to Ali for the release of one of his accomplices locked up in the Sher Garh Police Station.

“The police established contact with Ali with through Alamgir and asked him to come to Islamabad but he refused and told Alamgir to visit him in Sher Garh,” Amin said.

City SP Illyas decided to go to Sher Garh to save the child. “Any further delays could threaten the girl’s life so the police decided not to take any chances,” said the top cop, adding that a police team was dispatched immediately.

A police team headed by the SP went and arrested Ali, but the girl had already been shifted to Qutab Garh. She was recovered after a raid on the second location.

The girl was united with her mother at the office of the City SP in an emotional scene. The police said the gang had a similar case against them in Taxila. Seven people including two women who were involved in planning the kidnapping were arrested and are being investigated.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 11^th, 2012.