KHYBER: A resident of Jamrud has accused Khyber police of abducting his teenage son for ransom and demanded his immediate recovery.

Addressing a press conference at Jamrud Press Club on Wednesday, Attaullah Afridi said that his son Khubaan had gone to Karkhano Market for Eid shopping and was picked up by local police.

He alleged that police official Suhail had since been demanding ransom from his family. He said that the official first approached his other son and then shifted his abducted son to an undisclosed location.

Mr Afridi said that his son was innocent and no case was registered against him at any police station. He added that other police officials were expressing ignorance about the ‘arrest’ of his son in any criminal act.

He said that that he also approached the district police officer, who promised to help in early recovery of his missing son but to no avail. He alleged that Khyber police had becoming an organised gang of kidnappers. He appealed to inspector general of police to take notice of the issue and help in recovery of his son from police.

Responding to the accusations of Attaullah Afridi, spokesman for police Zaheer Khan said that police were neither aware of the kidnapping of the boy, nor had his parents lodged an FIR in that regard.

He told Dawn that other law enforcement agencies were also operating in Khyber that might have picked up Khubaan for his alleged involvement in any criminal case. He said that the father of the missing boy should approach proper forum instead of raising the issue in the press.

Meanwhile, scrap dealers in Jamrud have resented crackdown on their shops and demanded immediate reopening of all their closed shops.

Samar Gul, a scrap dealer, told journalists in Jamrud that their shops were forcibly closed by police over suspicion of illegal business two months ago without any prior notice.

He said that they were only dealing in used iron and steel items to earn a meagre amount. He said all their pleadings about their innocence and financial miseries had so far fallen on deaf ears.

Mr Gul demanded of the DPO and officials of district administration to look into the matter and order opening of their shops.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2024