Freed Brit toddler re-unites with father in Islamabad

LONDON - The kidnapped five-year-old British kid Sahil Saeed, who was released on Tuesday, was re-united with his father at the British High Commission in Islamabad on Thursday.

Sahil was kidnapped at gunpoint from his grandmother’s house in Pakistan’s Punjab province’s Jhelum region two weeks ago, and was found abandoned some 15 miles away from his ancestral home earlier this week.

Sahil has since been looked after by British officials at the high commission in Islamabad and is expected to fly back to London with his father later today, The Telegraph reports.

Meanwhile, the story surrounding the much reported kidnapping has begun unfolding with the arrest of five persons in Spain and France who are suspected to be involved in the abduction.

Confirming the arrests, the Spanish Interior Ministry said that a ransom of 80,000 pounds was paid in Paris for Sahil’s safe release.

According to the Spanish newspaper, El Pais, two among those arrested belonged to Pakistan and a Romanian woman, who is believed to have collected the ransom in Paris, was also nabbed.

Spanish police said Sahil’s father had gone to Paris to pay the ransom for his son’s release.

Surveillance officers watched him make the transfer, saw the recipients divide up the cash, and later swooped on a number of suspects, a police statement said.

Sahil’s family members had rejected any ransom being paid for his safe return, however officials are investigating the possibility of a massive amount being paid to abductors to settle a ‘long-standing debt.

Reports regarding the involvement of family members in the abduction have also been denounced by Sahil’s mother, Akila Naqqash.

“It is a lot of rubbish to us. We just heard what has been said on the news. We don’t know anything about it. We have had the full support of the police, churches, mosques, Pakistani overnment and authorities over there,” she said soon after news regarding Sahil’s return was flashed in the media. (ANI)