LAHORE: Police in the provincial capital on Thursday registered a case against five suspects on charges of kidnapping for ransom and sexually assaulting two foreign women.

The Police Emergency Helpline 15 received a call from Spain, made by the father of one of the women, reporting the incident.

The alleged victims, who are nationals of the Netherlands and Venezuela, had come to Pakistan to visit their ‘friends’.

DIG Faisal Kamran told Dawn that police acted accordingly, dispatched a team of senior officials, recovered the women, arrested four suspects and lodged an FIR.

He said the suspects had been tracked and apprehended with the help of the Punjab Safe City Authority’s cameras installed in the city.

The recovered foreign women were later produced before a judicial magistrate at Cantonment Courts to record their statements under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

A women’s counsel for the victims was also present in the courtroom during the recording of their statements. The victims narrated the incident before the magistrate in a closed-door hearing.

“We took into confidence the Dutch Embassy officials and updated them about the criminal proceedings of the case, recovery of the victims”, the DIG said, adding that the travel documents were completed and the women would fly at the earliest from Pakistan.

He said a security guard had escaped from the scene, and police teams were trying to trace his location.

DIG Kamran said investigations were underway, adding that those who committed crimes against the women must be brought before a court of law and punished under the law of the land.

According to the FIR, the women were abducted by five suspects, including a close relative of a senior political personality, who demanded ransom and subjected them to sexual assault during their captivity.

The suspects allegedly demanded $1.5 million in ransom before sexually assaulting them.

The Punjab government said Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz took immediate notice of the abduction of foreign women, following which Lahore police launched a swift operation and rescued the victims within two hours, arresting four suspects.

According to a handout, the chief minister directed the police to recover the women within two hours of being informed about the incident.

It said police immediately launched a rescue operation after receiving a report from the victim’s father.

It said the suspects were traced with the assistance of the Safe City Authority, leading to the recovery of the abducted women.

The rescued women underwent medical examinations, and further legal proceedings are under way in light of the available evidence, it added.