Pakistan kidnap police dismiss release reports


Sahil Saeed was taken following a raid on his grandmother's home

Police in Pakistan have dismissed reports a British boy who was kidnapped last week has been released. Five-year-old Sahil Saeed from Oldham, Greater Manchester, was seized by an armed gang in Punjab while staying with relatives last week.
A Punjab minister has been reported as saying the boy was found on Wednesday and has been handed over to his father.
But Kahlid Mahmoud, superintendent of the police investigation in Jhelum, has told the BBC the reports are false.
'Closing in'
And Muhammad Aslam Tareen, a detective based in Punjab, said he could "categorically confirm" the child is still missing.
Mr Tareen said: "We are closing in, yes. But have we found him yet? No. We hope to have something in the next 24 to 48 hours."
A British High Commission spokesman in Islamabad said UK diplomats are "urgently chasing" reports that Sahil has been released, and added that he had received "no evidence" the boy had been found.
The BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Islamabad said: "There is no independent verification of reports he has been released."
Pakistan's High Commissioner to the UK, Wajid Hasan, told the BBC he was attempting to clarify the situation back in Pakistan.
On Wednesday the BBC learned Sahil's father Raja Saeed had returned to the UK against the wishes of Pakistani police.
Sahil had been taken from his grandmother's home in Jhelum, Punjab, as he prepared to take a taxi to the airport for his flight to the UK.
Mother's pleas
Several men, including a taxi driver, have been arrested since the kidnap.
Four police officers were suspended after it emerged they did not initially respond to the family's emergency call.
On Saturday, Sahil's mother Akila Naqqas pleaded for his safe return, saying she would forgive his son's captors if they released him.
She also said Sahil had never been apart from either herself or her husband.
The attackers are said to have demanded a £100,000 ransom for his return.
Pakistani community groups in Oldham have said they are considering setting up a fund to pay ransoms in the event of kidnaps.
The UK government has a policy of not paying ransoms and advises third parties against doing so, arguing that this would encourage future kidnappings.




http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8561423.stm