Raid: Two persons recovered, six kidnappers arrested

Police say suspects had demanded Rs10 million ransoms.

ISLAMABAD:

The capital police recovered two abducted men and arrested six suspected kidnappers during a raid at a house in Sector G-12.

According to the police, the kidnappers had demanded Rs10 million each as ransom from the families of the victims.

Inspector General of the Islamabad Police (IG) Sikandar Hayat while addressing a press conference on Wednesday said Rehman Ali and Ehsan Abbas, who were abducted from Islamabad in two separate incidents in December, were recovered during a police search operation this past week.

“The search operation had been conducted to recover Ali,” Hayat said. Ali had been kidnapped by unidentified persons and a kidnapping case was lodged with the Ramna police on December 29, 2013.

Police said that Imran, a relative of Ali, received a phone call from the kidnappers demanding a Rs10 million ransom. The kidnappers had threatened to kill Ali if they failed to pay the amount within 24 hours.

The IGP said that the police teams and the technical experts traced the location of the phone call to the Mehrabadi slum in Sector G-12.

Hs said that search teams under the supervision of Shalimar Police Station House Officer (SHO) Haq Nawaz, and Golra SHO Muhammad Siddique raided a house in Ittefaq Town near Al-Tahir Foundation.

During the raid, the occupants of the house started firing on the police, who retaliated and forced them to surrender, Hayat said. The police seized their weapons and found the kidnapped persons in a room.

Hayat said that the police team safely recovered Ali and Abbas, a resident of G-13/3, a kidnapping case for whom was reported to the Golra police on December 11, 2013.

The suspected kidnappers were identified as Khan Sharif, Gul Zareef, Qamarullah, Pervez Khan and his wife, Saeeda Gul, and daughter, Lela Gul. Sharif and Zareef hailed from Dir, and Qamarullah from Teemar Garah, while Khan and his family are from Mardan, according to the police chief.

During the initial investigation, the kidnappers said two accomplices had left the house just before the raid and three others escaped during the exchange of fire.

They were identified as Imran Yunus from Peshawar, Sherzada and Imran from Mardan, Shah Jehan from Bajaur and Akram Syed from Malakand.

Special police teams have been constituted to arrest the absconding suspects, Hayat said.

The police chief also said that a survey has been launched in the residential areas of Islamabad to gather information about the residents.

In the first phase, a survey in the Bhara Kahu area to gather information about particulars of families, their professions and whereabouts was completed, Hayat said.

He said that the survey was being carried out for the safety of the citizens so that they may know about the people residing in their surroundings.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th, 2014.