GUJRAT: Police on Friday arrested the suspects involved in kidnapping a 10-year-old schoolboy for ransom.

However, the mastermind of the case is based in Muscat who was in contact with a gang of Katcha (Rahim Yar Khan) area that made the phone call to the boy’s family and demanded Rs15 million ransom as the boy’s father is settled in the United States.

Burhan was kidnapped by the suspects on his way home from school in Model Town on Wednesday but was recovered by the police on Thursday.

At a news conference at the district police office, Gujrat SP Riaz Ahmed Naz, DSP city Aamir Sheerazi and Rehmania police station house officer Inspector Sagheer Bhadar said suspects Ashfaq and Tayab had kidnapped the boy on the direction of Muscat-based Azhar Hussain who was connected with a Katcha gang which demanded ransom from the heirs.

The SP said suspect Ashfaq ran a dairy shop in New Model Town and supplied milk to boy’s house. He said as the boy knew him, he rode their motorbike. They drove him to a house in Garhi Ahmedabad locality as the wife of suspect Tayab was also involved in the incident.

The SP said Ashfaq had sought some loan from the Muscat-based suspect who asked him to kidnap the boy.

DSP Sheerazi said that police were trying to trace the suspects belonging to Katcha area.

HUMAN TRAFFICKERS: The FIA has arrested three human traffickers, including a proclaimed offender, during a crackdown in the region.

A spokesman for FIA said that PO Imranullah of Awan Sharif Mal, tehsil Kharian, was arrested in multiple cases. The accused extorted Rs4.18 million from four complainants under the pretext of securing them employment in Greece. Instead he sent them to Turkey, where they were arrested by authorities and subsequently deported back to Pakistan. Rizwan Rasheed of Mandi Bahauddin extorted Rs600,000 from the complainant for sending his son to Hungry but could not arrange visa. Similarly, Raza of Qila Didar Singh, Gujranwala, received Rs1,000,000 and $3,000 for sending the brother of the complainant to Italy.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2025