A RANSOM was paid to free Sahil Saeed, the British five-year-old kidnapped in Pakistan, it was confirmed yesterday as police in Paris and northern Spain arrested five people in connection with the abduction.
As Sahil prepared to fly back to be reunited with his family, details of the elaborate operation to secure his release, involving police forces in Spain, France and Britain, began to emerge.
Two Pakistani brothers and a Romanian woman are due to appear in court today after being arrested near Tarragona, north-east Spain, according to an official with the superior court of Catalonia. Police are understood to have recovered a large amount of money, reported to be about £78,000, in a flat the three shared.
Their arrest followed the payment of the ransom in Paris, according to police in Madrid. “Two of them picked up the ransom in Paris and returned to Spain by car. They were arrested once the release was confirmed,” police said. “Two more people have been arrested in the French capital and the operation is still open.” Pakistan’s interior minister Rehman Malik said rescuers had had the option “to catch [the kidnappers] and have the boy killed”, but it was “decided that life was more important”.
Sahil, from northwest England, was held for 13 days after being snatched by an armed gang from his grandmother’s home in Jhelum, Punjab, on March 3rd. He was found wandering in a field at Kharian, 25 miles away, on Tuesday, alone but unharmed. His hair had been cropped and his shoes were missing.
He had been on a two-week holiday with his father, Raja Naqqash Saeed (28) when the kidnappers struck as they were leaving to fly back to Britain. The gang is said to have tied up and beaten family members before taking the boy.
Sahil’s father left Pakistan five days after the kidnapping, against Pakistani police advice. British police said he had been helping to secure his son’s release. His whereabouts since have not been divulged by family members.
It is understood a substantial sum was raised by the family. Friends said they sold jewellery and cashed in savings. The kidnappers demanded £110,000, according to Spanish police.
Sahil was taken back to Jhelum yesterday for a hearing before a magistrate’s court, a legal procedure in kidnapping cases. He told the court he was kept in a village and looked after by a woman throughout, according to sources. He said the kidnappers had taken him horse-riding and for rides on a donkey cart. He was also given a bicycle to play on, and a toy gun.
– (Guardian service)