The Rawalpindi police arrested three suspected kidnappers and recovered three Afghan abductees during an operation on Wednesday, a police spokesman said.

The spokesman added that the three victims were foreigners — an Afghan woman and her two sons. “They were safely recovered within 24 hours of their abduction by Saddar Wah Police.”

The suspects allegedly kidnapped the family by inviting them from Afghanistan under the pretext of offering them a visa to a European country, the spokesperson added.

On receiving the information about the incident, City Police Officer (CPO) Syed Khalid Hamdani took notice and ordered the immediate arrest of the suspects and the safe recovery of the abductees.

Special teams were formed under the supervision of the Potohar Superintendent of Police to find the suspects. Using footage from CCTV, along with human intelligence and other technical methods, the suspects were traced and apprehended during the raid.

“The suspects will be charged with solid evidence and given exemplary punishment,” CPO Hamdan was quoted as saying.

In April last year, a staffer from the Swiss embassy and five other people were robbed and held hostage in Islamabad for six hours, being forced to bring more money from an automated teller machine.

According to police, a foreign woman and five Pakistani associates had parked vehicles near Shah Allah Ditta, within the limits of Golra police station, and started biking towards a stupa located in the limits of Taxila.

In February 2021, Racecourse Police in Lahore booked two suspects for allegedly kidnapping two foreigners for ransom of Rs300 million.

The suspects nominated in the first information report (FIR) obtained Rs10.4m from Stephen Ehrhardt, a Swiss citizen and Magerwin Maria Spari of Germany, releasing them on the condition that they would manage the remaining amount.