QUETTA: An eight-year-old boy, who had been abducted for ransom on Oct 8, was recovered by the police from Sariab Road area on Friday night. Two suspects were arrested.

Addressing a press conference on Saturday, Quetta Police Deputy Inspector General Abdul Razzak Cheema said a group of armed men had kidnapped eight-year-old Ziaullah from the Muslim Street, Arbab Karam Khan Road area, earlier this week. The kidnappers had called the boy’s father Gul Nazar, a truck driver by profession, and demanded Rs1.5 million as ransom.

The abductors had also written Gul Nazar letters demanding the ransom, and threatened to harm the boy if the money was not paid.

Gul Nazar informed the police, who then launched an investigation.

According to the DIG, a police team raided a house in the Faizabad area of Sariab, after receiving a tip-off about the boy’s whereabouts.

“The Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) and Sariab police conducted a joint raid on the house and recovered the abducted boy safely,” DIG Cheema said, adding that two of the suspected kidnappers — identified as Aziz Ahmed and Muhammad Hashim — were arrested.

The police also seized two TT pistols, rounds, a motorcycle and a vehicle. “The kidnappers were using an Afghan mobile Sim card to call the boy’s father,” he said, adding that several mobile phones, along with Afghan and Pakistani Sim cards and letters demanding ransom were seized from the house.

He said during the course of the interrogation, they had learned that the gang had around seven members who had been active for the last two years. The police were looking for the remaining members of the gang, and would arrest them soon, he added.

DIG Cheema said an alleged terrorist killed in an operation of the CTD two days ago had been involved in murdering the late advocate Bilal Anwar Kasi, as well the suicide bombing at the Quetta Civil Hospital.

“Seven suspects involved in the hospital suicide bombing had been killed in an encounter with security forces while two have been arrested,” DIG Cheema claimed, adding that the police had resolved 95pc cases of targeted killing and suicide attacks so far.

He said that the police had also written to the relevant provincial authorities asking them to set up a joint investigation team to investigate the abduction of Maulana Ali Mohammad Abu Turab — the provincial chief of Jamiat Ahle Hadees.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2017