Saving lives: Kidnapped in Lahore, found in Bhakkar

Seven kidnappers arrested after shootout with the police.

BAHAWALPUR/ GUJRANWALA/ BHAKKAR:

A woman kidnapped from Lahore on October 30 was recovered in a police raid from Bhakkar on Thursday.

Seven kidnappers were arrested after a four-hour long exchange of fire between the police and the kidnappers. Four policemen were injured in the shootout.

Police said the woman was kidnapped from the Gulberg area in Lahore while she was apparently on her way from a market. On Thursday, police were tipped about her possible location in Jandanwala village between Khushab and Bhakkar.

The kidnappers shot at them. The police shot back. Four policemen were injured and taken to the district headquarters hospital. The kidnappers took the woman and fled the scene. However, after an hour-long chase, police arrested them. The girl was handed over to her family.

Kidnappers arrested in Bahawalpur

Separately, police on Wednesday arrested three kidnappers and recovered Rs383,500, two motorcycles and two mobile phones from them, DPO Sohail Habib Tajik said on Thursday. He was addressing a press conference.

He said Muhammad Aashiq, Aamir Hussain and Gulshan Naheed had kidnapped a six-year-old from near his house in Model Town’s Block-C on October 20. He said they had demanded Rs5 million ransom from the child’s father, Muhammad Waheed. The DPO said Waheed had agreed and paid the ransom without informing the police. He said the kidnappers had released the boy on November 2 after the payment was made.

He said Yazman DSP Azizullah Khan and City DSP Riaz Bukhari had then formed a police team to look for the suspects. They were arrested on Wednesday night in a raid at a house.

Three neighbours arrested for kidnap

A two-year-old girl kidnapped in Gujranwala on November 4 was recovered on Thursday. Police said they arrested three kidnappers, all neighbours of the child. Police said the child was kidnapped from her house in Samanabad. The kidnappers had demanded Rs1 million from the parents.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 8^th, 2013.