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Pakistani Police 'Closing In' on Abductors of British Boy

   VOA News 07 March 2010
   Akila  Naqqash  holds  a picture of her son Sahil Saeed, 5, in Oldham,
   Manchester, north-west England, on 4 Mar 2010

Photo: AFP

   Akila  Naqqash  holds  a picture of her son Sahil Saeed, 5, in Oldham,
   Manchester, north-west England, on 4 Mar 2010

   Pakistani  officials  say police are closing in on the kidnappers of a
   five-year-old  British  boy, who was taken from his family at gunpoint
   last week.
   Interior  Minister  Rehman  Malik  said  Sunday  that  authorities now
   believe  the  kidnapping  was carried out by people close to the boy's
   family.  He  warned  the  abductors  to  release  the  boy,  who is of
   Pakistani origin, before they are caught by police.
   Sahil Saeed was taken by armed robbers from his grandmother's house in
   the  northeastern Pakistani city of Jhelum Wednesday.  His father, who
   is Pakistani, said the kidnappers are demanding a $120,000 ransom.
   Pakistani  police  have reported a surge in kidnapping cases in recent
   years  as  violence  has  worsened  in the country. Authorities mostly
   blame  criminal  gangs  and  militants who use ransom payments to fund
   their activities. Most of the victims are Pakistani citizens.
   Britain's  foreign  office has released a statement calling on Saeed's
   abductors  to release him. Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
   has ordered authorities to step up their efforts to find the boy.

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

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