PESHAWAR: Cantonment police claimed to have arrested two alleged kidnappers and recovered a four-year-old girl from Khyber Agency.

Speaking at a press conference here on Friday, Cantonment Circle SP Tauseef Haider and DSP Shafiullah Khan said that a gang had kidnapped the minor girl, Huria daughter of Murad Khan, from Shami Road on Feb 1 and had demanded Rs30 million for her release.

Officials said that father of the girl was a poor man but her uncle Javed Khan had recently returned from Belgium and the kidnappers expected a huge ransom. “One of the accused Sheraz, who is first cousin of the girl’s father, was staying with the family in Peshawar and planned to kidnap the girl with the help of his friend Zahoor Shahab,” a policeman said and added that she was taken to Wazir Dhand area of Khyber Agency.

The girl was kept at the residence of Ihsanullah and his brother Naushad. Police with support of the Khasadar Force of the agency after pressuring mother of Ihsanullah recovered the girl. Accused Zahoor Shahab and Ihsanullah have been arrested after conducting raids at their hideouts.

“Accused Zahoor Shahab is a hardcore criminal and has links with other gangsters,” said DSP Khan. “The main accused Sheraz, who managed to pick the girl from her house, is yet to be arrested.”

Appreciating police’s role, Javed Khan, uncle of the girl, awarded Rs100,000 each to DSP Shafiullah Khan and SHO Mukhtiar Khan, and 50,000 to other members of the raiding party of the police that recovered the girl.

“We did not believe that Sheraz will be involved in the kidnapping as he is one of our very close relatives, but we got some tips about his involvement and then approached the police on Feb 4, and the girl was recovered on Feb 10,” a relative said.

The DSP said that it was the third recovery during the past few days, claiming that the police succeeded in recovery of the kidnapped persons without paying ransom to the gangsters.
Source: Dawn
Date:2/13/2010