ISLAMABAD: The police have obtained a two-day physical remand of a 13-year-old boy in connection with a kidnapping case registered regarding the disappearance of a 13-year-old girl with the Karachi Company police.

The girl and the boy were traced to Swat on Tuesday and taken into police custody, police officers told Dawn, and Rs1.2 million in cash was also recovered from their possession. The children were brought to the capital and the girl was taken to the women’s police station.

They said she will be produced in court to make a statement before being handed over to her parents. The boy was produced in court and remanded into police custody.

Girl, whose disappearance was reported Sunday, to be produced in court before she is handed over to family

The officers said that the teenagers revealed during interrogation that they became friends on social media and planned a trip. The boy lives in Scheme III in Rawalpindi while the girl lives in G-8/1. They had agreed to meet at Chaman Station on 9th Avenue on Sunday.

The officers said they went from Rawalpindi to Murree and booked a room in a hotel. They also accessed the girl’s Facebook account and deleted all her messages, and then attempted – unsuccessfully – to delete the account entirely.

The police raided the hotel when they learned of the children’s presence, by which time they had left. The police were able to obtain a mobile phone number from the hotel, which turned out to be the boy’s mother’s contact number, and she told police her son had been missing for two days.

The police then learned that the children rented a car in Murree, and after contacting the driver found that they were at a hotel in Swat. The children were recovered from Swat and taken into police custody, along with Rs1.2m that the boy said he stole from his father’s cupboard to pay for the trip.

He also told police they did not have any particular plans except to travel to other areas.

The officers said police are verifying his claim about the money, and whether it was stolen from his father or elsewhere, or earned some other way. The boy’s family has been contacted and asked to appear before police for questioning.

The girl’s family has also been formally informed of her recovery, and a meeting between them was arranged at the police station. However, they said, she remains in police custody so she can make a statement without anyone’s influence.

Speaking to Dawn, the girl’s uncle said she left the house without her belongings or any necessary items. He questioned the police’s claims that she had planned to leave, asking how anyone could travel that way.

He added that even if the family accepted that she left home of her own will, how could she have planned to go to Swat when she has never left the neighbourhood alone? He said that the police have said she was with a boy her own age, and asked how two minors went from the safest city to Swat without being spotted by a single person or camera.

He said that if she was with the boy, he would also have been missing, and asked if there was any FIR or report regarding the boy’s disappearance.

The girl was recovered at noon on Tuesday, but the family learned of her recovery at 5:30pm from news channels, he said.

The girl’s uncle said that by 7:30pm that day, every single official that the family contacted was unable to confirm the news until they were forced to by the family.

He asked what the girl was doing in police custody that whole time and why her parents were not informed. He claimed the police were isolating her so she would make a statement that corroborated police opinion.

He said the family would not accept any of the girl’s statements made in police custody unless they are allowed to speak to her.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2019