KARACHI: A young woman was kidnapped by four armed men from outside her home in Defence Housing Authority (DHA), police said on Monday.

The police termed it an incident of kidnapping for ransom.

A Darakshan police officer said the woman, 20, had gone to have tea at a roadside restaurant in Defence at around 1am on Sunday along with her male cousin and others.

She left the place and was driving the car herself while the driver was sitting at the rear seat. As she reached her home in DHA Phase VI on Khayaban-i-Seher, the driver disembarked from the car to open the door. In the meantime, around four gunmen travelling in a car appeared there. They shouted, asking the driver not to open the door.

However, the driver became fearful, assuming that the gunmen were robbers. He managed to enter the home and alerted other family members.

When the family members came outside, the gunmen had taken away the girl whose whereabouts were not known, said the police officer. The incident occurred at around 1.45am on Sunday.

DIG South Sharjeel Kharal told Dawn that the police were treating it as kidnapping for ransom case as the family had received a ransom call.

The girl is the daughter of a builder.

The Darakhshan police officer said that the family had reported the incident to the police station, but so far they had not registered an FIR (first information report) of kidnapping.

The police have obtained the CCTV footage of the crime scene and were working on it to find some clue to the suspected kidnappers and the victim.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2019