November 14, 2008	Friday	Ziqa'ad 15, 1429

PESHAWAR, Nov 13: Police on Thursday claimed to have busted an inter-provincial gang of kidnappers and recovered a Karachi-based businessman, who had been kidnapped for ransom from the Peshawar airport on Nov 5.

Speaking at a press conference at the Police Club here, City Circle SP Chaudhry Mohammad Ashraf said Ghani Barlas had been invited by his friends to Peshawar on a business trip and had then been kidnapped from the airport.

“One of my friends, Khwaja Talat Ali, of North Karachi along with another accomplice from Lahore had hatched the conspiracy and brought me to Peshawar,” Mr Barlas said.

He said another accused, Javaid, of Wahid Garhi Khazana and his relative Jan Alam had facilitated the gang, who blindfolded him and took him to a house in the Karkhano Market area.

Mr Barlas said he was dealing in scrap as a wholesale businessman at Aram Bagh, Karachi, and also owned a building at Pakistan Chowk, Karachi.

He said his friend Talat was known to him for two years, who was working as scrap broker in Karachi.

The police officer said kidnappers had demanded Rs30 million for release of the businessman, but his wife had refused to pay the amount.

He said she had later agreed to pay them whatever cash she had.

The kidnappers, the SP said, had planned to kill the businessman after receiving the ransom because they feared police action in case of his release.

He said Mr Barlas’s release was made possible after recording telephonic conversation of the kidnappers with his family.

Some of the accused, he said, belonged to Palosai, Pakha Ghulam, Lahore and the Khyber Agency.

The SP said the accused, except for the one from Lahore, had been arrested and a case had been registered against them at the West Cantonment police station on a complaint of Major Arshad, a relative of Mr Barlas.

KILLED: Two people were killed and two others injured in separate incidents in different parts of Peshawar.

A complainant, Khalid, of Badbher who suffered bullet injuries and his brother Bakhtiar Khan was killed, told police in hospital that they were on the way home when armed men attacked them.

He said it was learnt that Nazeef of the Ahmedkhel village had allegedly opened fire on them. An official of the Bala Mani police station said the accused had been arrested and a murder case had been registered against him.

In another case, Najeeb told police that an unidentified person had killed his son Ismail Khan and thrown his body in agriculture fields in the Sufaid Dheri village. He said he had no enmity with anyone.