ROME: Police in Italy are searching for the body of an 18-year-old girl suspected to have been killed by her Pakistani family after refusing an arranged Muslim marriage. The girl's parents, an uncle and two cousins are under investigation for murder, lieutenant colonel Stefano Bove of the Carabinieri police said Saturday. All "are supposed to have taken part in the crime", he told reporters, while officers were combing through farmland to find the missing girl, Saman Abbas.

Police has been searching for her since May 5, when officers visited her house and found nobody, triggering an investigation. Officers then discovered that the girl's parents had left for Pakistan without her, and found images from a nearby security camera that made them fear the worst.