Sahil Kidnapping: Arrests made in Spain, France
18 March, 2010
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| Sahil Kidnapping: Arrests made in Spain, France |
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MADRID: A ransom for a five-year-old British boy kidnapped in Pakistan and freed this week was paid in Paris, Spain’s interior ministry said on Wednesday, adding five people had been detained.
Authorities detained three people in Spain and two in France, the ministry said in a statement.Two of those arrested in Spain, in Tarragona in the northeast, are suspected of having gone to Paris to seek the ransom for the boy, the statement said.
Authorities arrested the man and the woman “once the little boy’s release was confirmed,” it said.Two others suspected of collaborating with them were arrested in Paris, according to the statement.
A Spanish newspaper reported on Wednesday the Spanish police have arrested three people suspected of seeking a 87,000 euros ($120,000) ransom for a British boy kidnapped in Pakistan and since released.
The police arrested two Pakistani men and a Romanian woman in the village of Constanti in the northeastern region of Catalunya, the Diari de Tarragona reported without citing sources. Neighbours saw police carrying large amounts of money out of the flat where the three were arrested, the paper said.
Police in Pakistan said the kidnappers had dropped off the child in a field on Tuesday, allowing officers to recover him, but no arrests were made. Doctors confirmed the boy was in good condition, saying he was under police protection and accompanied by British officials.
Sahil Saeed was taken from his grandmother’s house in the town of Jhelum in the early hours of March 4 while preparing to leave with his Pakistani father to fly back to Britain. Meanwhile, Minister for Interior Rehman Malik on Wednesday disclosed that the accused involved in the five-year-old British boy Sahil Saeed Naqash’s abduction was arrested in Spain.
Talking to media persons here at the Parliament House, he said that the accused was a Pakistani and was traced from telephone calls which he made from Spain. Interpol, the UK and France also provided full support in the saga, he added. Answering a question, he said banned outfit organisations would not be allowed to adopt new names and strict legal action would be taken against such organisations.
The minister said it was the collective responsibility of politicians, media, law-enforcement agencies and all the citizens to play an effective role for establishing durable peace and eliminating the menace of terrorism and extremism from the country’s soil.
Replying to a question, he said the identity card recovered from Abdul Malik Regi was fake and not issued by the Nadra. “Even his brother was also deported to Iran,” he added. The minister contradicted a news item that appeared in a section of the press regarding cancellation of Rs 30 billion contract with Nadra.
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