LAHORE: The father of deceased British minor Sara Sharif, along with his partner and brother, has been arrested by authorities soon after their arrival in the UK.

The trio had left Pakistan on Wednesday and landed at Gatwick airport later that night.

Surrey police in a statement on Wednesday night, said two men and a woman were arrested on suspicion of murder after disembarking a flight from Dubai. They did not name the suspects, but it is believed they are referring to the trio that flew from Pakistan.

Urfan Sharif, Beinash Batool and Faisal Shahzad Malik had earlier boarded an Emirates flight from Sialkot International Airport at 5am. But different accounts presented by officials and a lawyer around their departure raised questions about whether the trio fled or left after some negotiations with British officials.

The Guardian reported that the fugitives flew business class on the last leg of the journey back from Dubai, and that the logistics are understood to have been handled by the British High Commission.

Some reports suggested that Punjab police officials handed the trio over to British authorities, a day after the Child Protection Bureau took custody of Urfan’s five children.

Reports claimed the trio was ‘arrested’ from a close relative’s residence in Sialkot late on Tuesday, and later interrogated at an undisclosed location about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of 10-year-old Sara, who was discovered dead at their home in Woking, Surrey.

However, Rawalpindi RPO Syed Khurram Ali told Dawn it seemed the absconding trio had surrendered to British authorities to join the investigation into Sara’s death. He said the Punjab police teams had been raiding different parts of the province for their arrest.

He said a special police team had been working in Sialkot for two days, when it was tipped off about their presence at close relative’s home. “Meanwhile, we got a surprise mobile phone call that the suspects were about to leave Pakistan on a flight at 5pm on Wednesday,” Mr Ali said.

He said they put the FIA on high alert and prepared a police team to conduct raids at the Sialkot International Airport. However, they were informed by the immigration authorities that the trio had already fled Pakistan earlier that day. “I confirm that they have not been arrested but they left voluntarily,” Raja Haq Nawaz, a lawyer for Urfan Sharif’s father, told AFP.

Our correspondent in London also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2023