KARACHI, Oct 22: A kidnapped youth returned home on Tuesday night after remaining in his captors’ custody for more than 50 days.

Raza Abbas Zaidi was kidnapped on Sept 1 while on way to Khayaban-i-Saher, in the limits of Defence police station. His father, Kishwar Zaidi, an official of a multinational firm, had lodged an FIR when his son did not return home. The car (ACS-650) which the kidnap victim was riding was found abandoned in Azizabad police limits later.

The kidnappers released him somewhere in Balochistan Tuesday afternoon upon receiving ransom, sources told Dawn.

The Citizen-Police Liaison Committee chief, Mr Sharfuddin Memon, told Dawn that a Balochistan-based gang was active in Karachi for the last two years.

“They kidnap people in Karachi and take them to their hideouts in Balochistan,” he said adding that following the recent arrest of three of its members, the gang had curtailed its activities. However, a surge in its activities were being noticed, he remarked.

Giving details, Mr Memon said that one of the gangsters, Yaqoob Makrani, who used to bargain release of the kidnap victims, had been arrested. Now another man, Rustam, has taken over the position, he revealed.

The CPLC and AVCC are working together on the case and all out efforts are being made to bust the gang, he said.

It may be recalled that on October 12, Ayub Khan, a senior manager of a foreign bank, was kidnapped in Gulistan-i-Jauhar.

According to police, the 46-year-old man was kidnapped along with his car (AAE-701). The vehicle was found abandoned in Safoora Goth, in the limits of Sachal police station.

So far 23 cases of kidnapping-for-ransom have been reported at different police stations of the city within this year.

Fifteen of the victims have returned home or been recovered. While a search for five victims is under way, three persons — two young boys and a middle-aged man — have been killed by their kidnappers in separate cases.