LAHORE, May 26: A CIA police team on Thursday arrested a man and his former wife and recovered two minor girls they had allegedly kidnapped from different areas of the city. One of the girls was allegedly kidnapped from Children’s Hospital while the other from Gulshan-i-Iqbal Park, Lahore, around a year ago.

SSP (Investigation) Abdur Razzaq Cheema told Dawn that a police team led by the Cantonment CIA DSP a month ago managed to trace the kidnapper of four-year-old Dua-e-Muntiha with the help of CCTV footage obtained from the Children’s Hospital.

He said with the cooperation of Muntiha’s father, Shahab, policemen in plainclothes conducted a raid in Gujranwala and picked the suspect who later confessed to kidnapping the girl from the hospital. The SSP said on the information provided by the suspect, police conducted another raid at the residence of his ex-wife Shabana in Dhoop Sari area of Sheikhupura district and recovered the two girls.

He said four-year-old Minal of Gulshan Iqbal was kidnapped by the accused couple from Gulshan Iqbal Park on May 4, 2010. He said Shabana was already on bail in a case of kidnapping a girl from Faisalabad and selling her in Sindh.

The SSP said the girls were handed over to their parents, adding it appeared the suspect and his ex-wife had kidnapped the girls for selling them to a prostitution ring.