TANK: A five-year-old boy kidnapped for ransom from Tank was recovered from the Bhakkar district of Punjab after a successful operation by the police.

Tank district police officer Mohammad Sajjad Ahmed Sahibzada told a media briefing on Tuesday that the child was kidnapped from Gara Koro Khan area of Tank district on January 20, and was shifted to Mankeera village of Bhakkar district.

The police had registered a kidnapping case on the complaint of the child’s father, Farooq.

Mr Sahibzada said that the police had detained several suspects in the case. During interrogation, one of the suspects, Qeezar, who is a cousin of the child, confessed to have kidnapped him.

The DPO said that in the meantime the child’s family received a phone call for payment of Rs4 million as ransom for his release. He said that the kidnappers had asked the father to bring the ransom money to Bhakkar.

DPO Sahibzada said that the police traced the caller and sent a team to Bhakkar to recover the boy.

He said that the police team, headed by DSP Iqbal Baloch and SHO Naseebur Rehman, raided a hideout in the Mankeera village of Bhakkar and recovered the boy.

He said that raids continued for the arrest of other kidnappers involved in the case.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2021