Pakistan police close in on kidnappers of British boy

Jhelum:  A five-year-old British boy kidnapped in Pakistan nearly a week ago is alive and police are making progress in the investigation, a police official said yesterday.

Sahil Saeed, who is of Pakistani origin, was abducted last Thursday after gunmen barged into his grandmother's house, held the family at gun-point for hours and then left with some valuables and the boy.

"The child is safe. We made some progress and hopefully, we'll sort out this case soon," Khalid Mahmoud, police superintendent for investigations in the city of Jhelum, told Reuters.

Interior Minister Rehman Malek said on Sunday that police were closing in on the kidnappers and that the abductors appeared to be close to the boy's family.

Kidnapping is a major problem in Pakistan and many of the crimes go unreported. Police have said Taliban militants use ransoms from kidnappings to fund their insurgency against the US-backed government.

No sign has emerged that the abduction of the boy, who is from the English town of Oldham, was linked to militants.

Police have said the gunmen took away 150,000 rupees (Dh6,463) and some gold and later demanded a 10 million rupee ($118,000) ransom.

Tipped off

Police said the kidnappers had been tipped off that the boy and his father were planning to fly home to Britain last Thursday after visiting relatives in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the father of the boy denied claims that he flew his son to the country following a row with his wife.

Reports suggested that Raja Naqqash Saeed took five-year-old Sahil out of school and travelled to Jhelum, Punjab, leaving his wife, Akila, and two daughters behind in Oldham, Greater Manchester.

A senior police source said that Saeed took his wife's passport with him to stop her following him after a "major falling out."

Only when family elders intervened did the couple patch up their disagreements and agree to give their arranged marriage another chance — shortly before the kidnapping on Thursday, it was claimed.

However, Saeed has told the Daily Mail that there was no argument.

"If there was some dispute between us, she would have told the authorities and the media, who have been in touch with her since the day my son was kidnapped," he said.

"There is nothing from my wife, my in-laws and other family members. My priority is my son and when my son will come back I will speak about everything," he said.

"The police and my family know everything. Nothing is hidden. I wanted to concentrate on the safe and sound recovery of my son and nothing else. I hope, soon, he would be sitting near my heart and in my lap."