The police pinpointed the girl’s location after being provided with the servants’ cell phone number by the family. PHOTO: FILE
Based on statistics on robberies, major thefts and kidnappings in the city, the police have concluded that more than sixty per cent of these crimes take place with the help of housemaids or security guards serving as informers.
A few days ago, a girl was ‘kidnapped’ from the posh Bahria Town locality of Islamabad. The township maintains its own security system, making it harder to commit such a crime in the area.
Unsurprisingly, the first suspect for Sihala police was somebody on the inside. The 15-year-old girl’s family informed the police that their servants, a husband and wife duo, were also missing. They registered a formal complaint against the servants and told the police that some gold ornaments and Rs30,000 in cash was also missing.
However, they did not receive a ransom call from anyone or the servants. The police pinpointed the girl’s location after being provided with the servants’ cell phone number by the family.
On Saturday, the Sihala police raided a hotel in Murree and arrested the two servants — Muhammad Shehzad and his wife Eman — and recovered the girl.
The police found the gold ornaments in the maid’s possession, while the cash was found with the girl. “She had spent some of the money and kept the rest with her,” said an investigation officer.
The police said the servants were being interrogated to determine the motive behind the kidnapping. So far, the husband has denied kidnapping the girl, telling the police rather that she persuaded them to help her run away from her family. The girl wanted the servants’ help to leave the house and then find a place to hide from her family, the husband told the investigators.
However, he failed to give a satisfactory answer as to why the girl wanted to run away. The police said her family insisted that the servants looted valuables from their house and then kidnapped their daughter by persuading her to go with them.
“The family was sure a ransom demand would come soon,” said a police officer. They told investigators that the servants were hired a few months ago on reliable recommendations.
The Sihala police said the suspects would be sent to jail after completing the investigation. They said the girl’s family might also be questioned. A police officer at the station said the family did not register the names of their servants with the police when they were hired.
The police have asked city residents to provide them with complete identity details of servants and security guards employed at their homes.
However, the officer said residents of Bahria Town residents rarely inform the police about their servants.
“Hiring servants from little-known sources is always risky. In some cases, we have seen servants even murdering their employers for cash or gold,” said the police officer.
He said providing the police with servants’ details also deter such crimes. In almost all cases where servants are involved in robberies, kidnappings or murders, it was found that their details had not been given to the police, he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 22nd, 2013.
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