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Published 24 Aug, 2009 12:00am

Two boys kidnapped from Lahore recovered

NAUSHAHRO FEROZE, Aug 23 The Motorway police recovered two teenage boys from a Karachi-bound coach near Kandiaro and arrested an alleged kidnapper on Sunday.

Senior patrol officer (SPO) Qamaruzzaman Khoso received a call on helpline (130) from the driver of the coach coming from Lahore and was informed that a man appeared to be illegally holding two boys and was giving them what appeared to be sweets tainted with some intoxicating substance.

Mr Khoso stopped the coach near a petrol pump and arrested the suspect.

During investigation at the motorway Kandiaro office, the boys identified themselves as Fayaz Ahmed, 11, son of Mohammad Qasim, , and Mohammad Qasim, 13, son of Mohammad Akbar. They said they were from Shibli Town, Lahore. Fayaz is a student of class IV and Qasim of class IX.The boys told police that they had gone to offer Asr prayers in a mosque. The man, Naeemullah, met them outside the mosque.

He gave them sweets, saying that he lived in the mosque and was distributing sweets to celebrate the advent of Ramazan.

The boys told police they did not remember what happed after they had eaten the sweets and when they regained consciousness, they found themselves in the coach.

In a semi-conscious condition when they tried to get out of the coach, the bearded man told them to keep quiet and threatened to blow up the coach with a bomb he was carrying.

He forced them to take more sweets and they again fell unconscious.

The driver of the coach and the cleaner were constantly watching the bearded man and the driver called the motorway police while crossing Kandiaro.

The SPO said the kidnapper and the boys had been handed over to Kandiaro police.The SP investigation, Imdad Shah, reached the police station and interrogated the kidnapper and the boys.

The SHO of Kandiaro police told this reporter that when police contacted the relevant police station in Lahore, they were informed that a report had been lodged that two boys had gone missing.

The SHO said the boys parents had left for Kandiaro and police were waiting for them and Lahore police officials.

The SHO said the alleged kidnapper claimed to be a soldier and showed an army leave card according to which he had to report at Karachi on Sunday night.

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