RIYADH, June 20: A Pakistani, Malik Abdul Ghafoor Haji, who was abducted in December last year, still remains untraced, a Saudi daily, Arab News , said, quoting family sources.

Malik Abdul Ghafoor Haji, 53, was allegedly kidnapped while he was getting out of his car near his residence in Jeddah on Dec. 5, 2004.

His daughters confirmed to the local press that they received several telephone calls soon after their father’s abduction demanding a ransom for his release.

“The caller initially demanded SR65,000 and then in subsequent calls raised the figure to SR500,000,” one of Malik’s daughters said, adding that the kidnappers also demanded that their father’s bank account be reactivated.

“We told the callers that unless they released him we could not reactivate the bank account. Our father also came on the line and told us to arrange for reactivating the bank account,” the daughter said.

Malik’s sponsor, Salem Ahmad Bugshan, said he had reported the abduction to the Kandara police.

“I told the police that Malik had been kidnapped and also gave them information about the clothes he was wearing at the time.

Malik had been living in Jeddah for the last 25 years. He frequently visited China, Taiwan and Singapore to buy leather goods and suitcases for his firm.