KARACHI: A teenage boy who had been kidnapped for ransom on June 4 was recovered from Moro on Friday after a shootout that led to the arrest of six suspected kidnappers, officials said.

A joint team of the Anti-Violent Crime Cell and the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee carried out the raid in Moro, said CPLC chief Ahmed Chinoy.

He said that Shahbaz Nadeem, 17, a student of a local college, was kidnapped near Safora Chowrangi on June 4 by three armed men in a Toyota Corolla car. They demanded a ransom of Rs4 million for his safe release.

The victim’s family approached the law-enforcers and the CPLC. Meanwhile, the kidnappers, after negotiations, agreed to take Rs1m as ransom and they asked the victim’s father to reach Moro to pay the ransom.

A police team from Karachi also reached Moro and the law-enforcers along with the local police took positions near the place where the ransom was to be paid to the kidnappers. When the ransom was paid, the police intercepted the kidnappers and an encounter ensued. Six suspects were arrested and four of them were wounded and shifted to a local hospital for treatment.

The CPLC chief said that two unhurt suspects led the police to a place in a nearby village where they had kept teenager Shahbaz with a family. He said that this was a fifth kidnapping case resolved in this week and the victims were recovered without payment of any ransom.

Mr Chinoy said total 22 people had been kidnapped in Karachi and 12 of them were recovered without paying any ransom.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2014