Pakistani police question suspects, express optimism they’ll recover kidnapped British boy

Pakistan police hopeful of recovering British boy

ISLAMABAD — Pakistani police questioned suspects in connection with the kidnapping of a 5-year-old British boy and were optimistic of a breakthrough in the case soon, an investigator said Friday.

Sahil Saeed was snatched from his grandmother’s house in Pakistan’s Jehlum city overnight Wednesday after robbers held the family at gunpoint for several hours, British officials and the boy’s family said. The robbers also took some household possessions and demanded a large ransom to return the child, whose picture and story made some Pakistani front pages Friday.

The case is among a soaring number of kidnappings for ransom in Pakistan, where Taliban-led militancy and a struggling economy have fueled crime. Most victims are Pakistani nationals.

Police investigator Raja Tahir Bashir told The Associated Press that officers were working on some leads.

“God willing, we will recover the boy very soon,” he said, declining to give details. “We are doing whatever is possible.”

Bashir said multiple suspects were being questioned. Britain said Thursday that police in Pakistan were questioning one man in connection with the kidnapping.

The boy’s father is Pakistani, said George Sheriff, the press attache at the British High Commission in Islamabad. British officials have been in touch with the boy’s parents, who had been scheduled to return from their holiday to Britain on Thursday.

The boy’s father, Raja Naqqash Saeed, told Sky News the kidnappers have demanded 100,000 British pounds ($150,000) in ransom.

“I told them I don’t have that much money … I can’t afford that,” Saeed said.

Criminal gangs are suspected in many kidnappings for ransom in Pakistan, but the Taliban and other militant groups are thought to earn a slice of the money. The sums demanded can run into the millions of dollars, though the captors often settle for less.

The British boy’s mother made an emotional televised appeal for his safe return.

“I just want my son back safe,” Akila Naqqash told Sky from her home in Manchester, in northern England, as tears ran down her cheeks. “We have got no idea why we were targeted — we don’t have any money.”