KARACHI: A five-year-old boy who was kidnapped from Defence
Housing Authority on Wednesday afternoon in the presence of his mother
was released in the early hours of Thursday after the criminals received
ransom money from his family, according to police and Citizens-Police
Liaison Committee (CPLC) officials.
Mohammad Abban
Ghufran was kidnapped from DHA Phase-8 near an academic institution
while returning from school with his mother on Wednesday, said CPLC
chief Zubair Habib.
He told Dawn that two masked men in a
white car intercepted the vehicle in which the boy and his mother were
travelling and after snatching valuables from the woman they took the
boy away with them forcibly. Shortly after the boy’s family received a
call from the kidnappers who demanded a ransom of Rs150 million for his
release, he said, adding that after negotiations with the family the
kidnappers had agreed to take Rs300,000.
He said after receiving the ransom money the kidnappers had left the boy at Askari petrol pump near Jauhar Chowrangi.
Kidnappers said to be ‘educated’ individuals
Soon after the kidnapping of the boy, the Sindh governor
taking notice of the incident directed the CPLC and law enforcement
agencies to take action for his early recovery.
Mr Habib
said soon after receiving information about the kidnapping a joint team
of Rangers, police’s Anti-Violent Crime Cell and the CPLC launched
investigation into the incident.
He believed that it was
the pressure of the officials’ prompt action that the kidnappers had
agreed for negotiations with the affected family.
The
CPLC chief said that in the cases of children’s kidnapping the priority
of his organisation was safe recovery of abductees, adding that the
payment of a “small amount of ransom money does not matter much”.
Talking
to Dawn, Crime Investigation Agency DIG Saqib Ismail Memon agreed with
the views of the CPLC chief, saying that in the cases of kidnapping the
priority of officials was safe recovery of victims.
He
claimed that the kidnappers of the boy were educated people. “The case
is not closed,” he said, adding that the police had got some leads and
they were working on it to arrest the kidnappers.
Answering
a question, the CPLC chief said the cases of kidnapping in Karachi had
declined sharply. Three years ago, he added, around 200 people were
kidnapped annually in the metropolis. He recalled that before the launch
of Karachi operation, a total of 174 cases of kidnapping for ransom
were reported in Karachi in 2013. This year eight to nine cases of
kidnappings had been reported so far.
He said all law-enforcement agencies now worked in coordination against criminals.
Suspect shot dead
A suspected robber was shot dead during an ‘encounter’ with
police personnel on Thursday morning, an official of the Ferozabad
police said.
He said three robbers barged into a house in
PECHS Block-2 near Tariq Road and after taking people in it hostage at
gunpoint they started looting valuables.
In the meantime, police’s Madadgar-15 received information from someone in the neighbourhood about the robbery.
Karachi East SSP Dr Samiullah Soomro said that within minutes a team of Madadgar-15 had reached the affected house.
He
said after noticing that police personnel were outside the house the
robbers opened fire on them and tried to escape. The personnel returned
fire and during the exchange of fire one of the robbers was killed and
two others managed to escape.
The deceased was identified as Imran Solangi. The police have found a mobile phone and a pistol with his body.
SSP Soomro said the two robbers had taken away some gold jewellery from the house.
He said with the help of the seized mobile phone the police would soon arrest the other two robbers.
Security situation reviewed
A meeting presided over by Director General of Sindh Rangers
Maj Gen Mohammed Saeed at the Rangers headquarters on Thursday reviewed
the law and order situation in Sindh, particularly in Karachi, in the
wake of the recent wave of terrorism incidents in the country, according
to a spokesperson for the Rangers.
He said senior officials of police and the paramilitary force attended the meeting.
The
spokesperson said the DG Rangers had stressed the need for further
improving the security of all sensitive installations and important
places.
It was decided in the meeting that coordination
between different law-enforcement agencies would be improved and joint
operations would be conducted.
