LAHORE: In an unusual case, the Punjab police have contacted the South African police after having evidence of involvement of the African gangsters’ network in the kidnap of an infant from Khushab for Rs100 million ransom.

The aspect came to the limelight during the investigation of the kidnap of 14-month-old Mohammad Jamil, son of Pakistani businessman Abdul Rehman who had been settled in South Africa for the last 15 years and was a dual nationality holder.

The South African police launched investigation in the case after the Punjab police sought their cooperation in tracing the network of the African gangsters. The Khushab police traced, located and arrested the two prime suspects in Attock late on Saturday — some 42 hours after they kidnapped the infant during a house robbery.

A mobile phone looted by the criminals led police to trace the suspected criminals and recover the child from a rented house in the far-flung area of Attock where they had kept him to obtain ransom amount from Abdul Rehman.

Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Rao Sardar Ali Khan were in contact with police to solve the kidnap case of the infant and lauded the efforts of the teams which ensured his safe recovery.

Khushab District Police Officer Mohammad Naveed told Dawn that South African gangsters were involved in the kidnap of the minor boy. He said Abdul Rehman’s family had been living at Khushab’s Haddali village from where several families or residents were settled in South Africa. He said Abdul Rehman was among them and his wife, three daughters and the minor son stayed at the village.

On the night of Dec 30, he said, four armed men barged into the house, held up the members of the family and looted cash, mobile phones and 25 tola gold ornaments. As the gangsters left the house with valuables, he said, the family found the infant missing.

Abdul Rehman’s wife searched the kid everywhere in the house but failed to find him and then raised an alarm, alerting the local police. For the police it was hard to believe that the criminals also took away the child, he said. However, the family’s claim proved true when it transpired that Abdul Rehman got a call in South Africa through which the kidnappers demanded Rs100m ransom for the safe release of his son, the DPO said.

He said the gangsters contacted him through a South African mobile phone number which was a matter of concern for the Khushab police. He said the police informed the IGP about the possible involvement of a foreign network of criminals in the kidnap.

After deliberations, he said, the IGP engaged the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to handle the kidnap case. A joint team of experts from the Khushab police and IB managed to trace the location of the woman’s mobile phone which was taken away by the criminals.

He said the suspects had removed SIM and used it in another but the IB locators continued to work on the project and traced the suspects’ location first in Rawalpindi and then Attock. After 42 hours’ extensive work, the police team reached the location and arrested the two suspects in a rented house, he said.

He added police also recovered the kidnapped infant whom the suspects had kept in a portion of the house. After investigation in the case, the Khushab police contacted the South African police, shared details of the incident and sought the record of the gangsters who rang up Abdul Rehman for ransom.

The DPO said South African police probe was imperative to conclude the investigation in the kidnap case.

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2022