KARACHI, Nov 8: The administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts, Karachi, Justice Salman Ansari, on Saturday remanded a woman and her three associates in police custody in a kidnapping-for-ransom case till Nov 18.

Suspects Laiba, Imran Ahsan alias Sunny, Salman Qureshi and Zubair are facing charges of kidnapping Khurram Javed on Oct 10 in the limits of the Sharea Faisal police station. On Oct 26 they released the victim after collecting a ransom of Rs1 million. The police registered a case under Section 365-A of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of Noor Javed at the Sharea Faisal police station.

The Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) and the Anti-violent Crime Cell (AVCC) jointly carried out a raid on Nov 4 in the limits of Gulistan-i-Jauhar police station and arrested the suspects.

The police also recovered a 14-year-old boy, Talha Siddiqui, from their custody. The suspects had kidnapped the boy on Nov 2 in Gulshan-i-Iqbal when he with his father was driving back to their home. The suspects were also remanded in police custody for interrogation in the Talha kidnapping case.

Meanwhile, the judge of Anti-Terrorism Court-III on Saturday dismissed an application moved under Section 23 of the ATA for the transfer of a murder case to a sessions court.

Jahanzeb is facing charges of kidnapping his cousin, Nawaz Ali, on Sept 19 in the Boat Basin area and the victim’s body was found on the next day in Clifton.

Earlier, the suspect’s counsel moved the application by arguing that the case did not fall in the jurisdiction of anti-terrorism courts.