KOHAT, Feb 18: A girl kidnapped from Quetta on January 5 was freed from a den in Darra Adamkhel on Saturday during an operation carried out by local officials in collaboration with elders of the area.

Suffering from hepatitis, the 18-year-old girl was so shocked by the ordeal she went through that she could not record her statement despite the passage of 24 hours since her recovery, an area official told Dawn.

He said the girl was being treated at a safe place in the FR House. She only told the official that she was brought to Darra Adamkhel 20 days ago by a man she identified as Adnan.

Giving details of the case, the official said she had been kept in a house in Akhorwal area by two criminals. He said her brother came to Darra Adamkhel last week, approached the tribal authorities and informed them about the whereabouts of the kidnapped girl and requested her sister's safe recovery.

"We took the elders of the area into confidence and then raided the house and recovered her. Two members of an inter-provincial gang of car snatchers were also arrested from the same house."

According to preliminary investigations, the main accused, Adnan, told the investigating official that he had forcibly married the girl after kidnapping her in Quetta one and a half month ago.

"The accused claims to have embraced Islam two years ago but when asked to tell some of the basic teachings of Islam, he failed to answer those questions. He possesses a fake national identity card which mentions him to be a resident of Islamabad," the official said.

The official requested this scribe not to mention the name of the girl and address in the story as this might endanger her life as such victims were not spared by their families in the NWFP and Balochistan.

He said the girl would be handed over to the Balochistan police after completion of legal formalities.