Karachi police on Wednesday arrested five suspects for their alleged involvement in the "rape" and kidnapping of a 14-year-old girl from Karachi's Surjani Town.

The accused were trying to shift the victim to Punjab where she may have been sold, said Dr Rizwan Ahmed Khan, the Karachi West senior superintendent of police.

On August 26, the teenager was kidnapped from Surjani Town, after which the police had registered a first investigation report (FIR) under Section 365 (B) of Pakistan Penal Code against unknown suspects on the complaint of the girl’s father.

Acting on a tip-off today, the police raided a house in Khuda Ki Basti area of the Surjani Town, and arrested five suspects, while also recovering the girl.

“During initial interrogation, the girl told the police that she had been kidnapped while on her way back home," SSP Khan told Dawn. "She also said that her kidnappers took her to some unknown place in Nazimabad and raped her.”

“Today, the suspects moved her [back] to Surjani Town and were planning to send her to Punjab for sale,” said the SSP, adding that further investigation was in process.

Meanwhile, Surjani SHO Nasrullah Khan said that the police have sent the victim to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for a medical examination.