Punjab Police are clueless about the whereabouts of the five-year-old British boy Sahil Saeed, who was kidnapped on Wednesday night, informed sources revealed here on Saturday. Over a dozen people are in police custody and are being interrogated.
High police officials including Regional Police Officer (RPO) Rawalpindi Aslam Tareen, District Police Officer (DPO) Dr Azam Khan and junior police officials are not taking calls from the press. Police conducted raids in different parts of Jhelum and adjacent areas and have arrested 15 people so far including a taxi driver, but there is no information about the whereabouts of the boy.
Police have attempted to locate the mobile phone SIM used to call Raja Naqqash Saeed, father of the boy, in which kidnappers had demanded a ransom of one hundred thousand pounds. The SIM was unregistered and a few people were arrested but the police are satisfied that they had no link to the kidnappers, police sources revealed. Police have arrested the taxi driver booked to take Naqqash Saeed and his son to Islamabad International Airport and stated that they were confident of recovering the child from the kidnappers.
Police sources also revealed to Business Recorder that Raja Naqqash Saeed had rejected the impression that the kidnapping was an 'inside' job. There have been no more calls from the kidnappers for the payment of ransom. Prime Minister Gilani and Interior Minister Rehman Malik took serious note of the incident and have directed the police to step up their efforts to recover the kidnapped boy.
The Prime Minister called Naqqash Saeed on Saturday, assured his full support, and directed police to provide security to the boy's family. Naqash, based in the Oldham, UK, arrived in his hometown Jhelum to visit his ailing mother. Sahil was kidnapped when he and his father were about to leave for the airport in a taxi to return to the UK.