PESHAWAR: The police on Sunday arrested three persons, pretending to be the personnel of security forces, for their involvement in kidnapping an Afghan trader for ransom in the provincial capital.

Officials said that the three persons stopped their vehicle on the GT Road and told an Afghan trader, Niaz Wali that they were security personnel and asked him to sit in their car.

“Soon after they drove, a police team, which was on a routine patrol in the area, stopped the car and questioned identities of the three suspects,” a police official said, adding that the three were taken into custody and probed.

The official said that the persons later turned out to be kidnappers and were pretending to be security personal.

A statement issued by the city police said that three persons, including Iftikhar, Mohammad Umar and Farmanullah, were arrested by Gulfat Hussain police and that the police team safely recovered Niaz Wali, an Afghan trader, from their captivity.

“The police recovered fake cards of the intelligence agencies, uniform of the security forces, arms and the vehicle used for kidnapping the Afghan trader,” the statement said, adding that the accused had been involved in kidnapping Afghan nationals for ransom.

They were charged under relevant sections of the law and were being interrogated.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2026