RAWALPINDI: Three Pakistanis who were kidnapped in Turkey arrived along with seven other deportees at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport on Thursday.

The three Pakistani were kidnapped by human traffickers in Thursday and later rescued by security agencies returned to Pakistan on Turkish Airlines flight TK-710 and were shifted to the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Anti-Human Smuggling Cell for further investigation. They have been identified as Mohammad Zeeshan, Abid Munir and Adeel Ahmed.

Mr Munir, a Gujranwala native, said in his statement that he was kidnapped for ransom and rescued by Turkish authorities earlier this month. He said he was tortured for 15 days with burning iron rods by his kidnappers, who were forcing him to contact his family in Pakistan for a $300,000 ransom.

He said his safe return was because of the efforts of the Pakistani embassy in Turkey.

A leaked video of young Pakistani men, who travelled to Turkey from Balochistan and Iran, being tortured prompted the Pakistani authorities to contact Turkey to rescue the victims. A senior FIA official said all three Pakistanis were handed over the FIA Gujranwala.

Seven other Pakistani deportees arrived in Pakistan on an Emirates Airline flight on Thursday.

The FIA official said two of the seven were from Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2017