LAHORE, Aug 16: Police are preparing sketches of a couple of suspects in the kidnapping of US national Dr Warren Weinstein and the immediate focus of their investigation is on his detained security guards and driver.

Deputy Inspector General (Investigation) Ali Aamir Malik said at a news conference here on Tuesday that police were gathering information about the case and interrogating driver Mohammad Israr who had worked with Dr Weinstein for several years.

He said the investigators had yet to extract anything concrete from the people being interrogated, but information was being collected to determine if they were linked to the kidnappers.

He said Dr Weinstein, a university professor associated with poverty alleviation and economic development projects, was apparently not a high-priority target for terrorists but the kidnapping could be linked with them.

Mr Malik said the man might have been kidnapped for ransom but nobody had contacted his company or police with any demand.

The DIG said some US officials were in touch with police about the investigation but he was yet to receive any instructions from higher authorities about a joint probe with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

According to sources, police drew with the help of the arrested guards and driver the sketch of a 22-year-old man involved in the kidnapping.

However, an investigator said the sketch was not very clear.

He said two cellphones taken away by the group of eight kidnappers had been switched off and they were apparently playing a ‘waiting game’.

The investigator said police had only found a few fingerprints from the crime scene.

Replying to a question about another high-profile kidnapping case, SP (Organised Crime) Mohammad Umer Virk said Aamir Malik, son-in-law of Gen Tariq Majeed, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, was alive, contacts had been established with the kidnappers and efforts were being made to get him released. Mr Malik was kidnapped last year. The police official said he was at an unknown place within the country.