January 22, 2006	Sunday	Zilhaj 21, 1426

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MUZAFFARABAD, Jan 21: Two people involved in a kidnapping for ransom case were arrested near the Chakwal crossing off the G.T. Road, police officer told a news conference the other day.

Ejaz Ahmed and Mudassir Nazar are residents of Gojar Khan and are the main accused in a much-publicised kidnapping case, which had echoed in Senate about two months ago.

SSP Mirpur Khalid Mahmood Chauhan told a news conference on Friday.

He praised the Mirpur police and said that they got hold of the prime accused in the case despite some vested interests’ efforts to politicize an abduction case.

“It was only because AJK Prime Minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat and IGP Shahid Hasan lent us unrelenting support to bring the culprits to justice,” he said.

The police party, led by DSP Raja Irfan Saleem, had also recovered Rs456,000 in cash, a passport, a mobile set and other items from the custody of the accused, he added.

A case had been registered in Thothal police station on Oct 17, the SSP said.

He said the accused had abducted 12-year old Ahsan Latif and demanded Rs2 million in ransom from his father Khawaja Mohammad Latif. They later settled for Rs650,000 on Oct 25 and the cash was left by Mr Latif behind a milestone about a kilometre inside Chakwal Road.

The abductors released the boy on Oct 27. The boy helped the police to trace and confiscate both cars used in the abduction, he said, adding a formal report of the action had been registered in the roznamcha of Gojar Khan police station.

The SSP said they also located the two houses where the boy was kept and looked after by mother, two sisters and an aunt of the kidnappers.

Since women were equally involved in the offence, they were also arrested on Nov 15 along with four men. However, he regretted, the vested interests gave a wrong colour to the arrests of women alleging that they were to be used as “bargaining chips.”

“The law does not discriminate between men and women. Anyone who commits or abets a crime has to face legal repercussions,” he said. He said the women had remained in police remand and were bailed out on Nov 22 by the competent court.

Of the four other accomplices, three were still in jail while the fourth one had been released by the police for lack of evidence.

The SSP told that a fifth accused, Kamran alias Kami, nephew of a Gojar Khan-based journalist, was also involved in the offence and was still at large.

The SSP regretted that the Gojar Khan police had also fallen prey to “negative media campaign” of the vested interests as they registered a false case against the officials of Thothal police station and Mr Latif on Nov 21.