SWABI: Police recovered a five-year-old Afghan child, who was kidnapped three days ago, and arrested the alleged abductor.

DPO retired Capt Najamul Hassnain told journalists that Nimatullah, an Afghan living in Batakara area of Topi tehsil, lodged a complaint with police on Friday that his five-year-old son Atif Khan left the house and did not return.

He said that police lodged a case of abduction against unidentified accused on the complaint of the child’s father.

Topi police station SHO Haroon Khan said he along with his team started searching for the child from place to place, raided various areas and also advertised about him through social media. He said that the child was found in fields in Zarobi village.

He said that on the basis of information provided by the child and other evidence, the accused, Baseer Khan of Zarobi, was detained. He said that the identity of the accused was also confirmed through the child.

SHO Haroon said that the reason for abduction of child was not known but investigation was under way.

However, another official said that the child was abducted for ransom.

COMPLAINTS: The SHOs in the district have been directed to sit in their respective police stations to hear the complaints of people daily for two hours, according to officials.

Retired Capt Najamul Hassnain has taken charge as DPO about 10 days ago and the new strategy has been adopted to control crimes in the district and create an environment of cooperation between people and police.

The officials said that for the first time such a strategy was adopted by district police. They said that in the past it was difficult for people to meet SHOs and register their complaints about their problems.

“All SHOs are required to sit in the police stations on daily basis for at least two hours from 2pm to 4pm in addition to field duty to listen to the problems of people in a timely manner and solve them immediately,” said DSP Nural Amin Khan.

He said that they would take steps for immediate resolution of the problems of people.

Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2022