Kidnappers Release 5-year-old British Boy in Pakistan

5-year-old Sahil Saeed, kidnapped while on a family holiday in Pakistan, has been released.
Kidnappers Release 5-year-old British Boy in Pakistan
RELIEF: Mother of 5-year-old Sahil Saeed, Akila Naqqash holds up a picture of her son after being informed that he had been released by the gunman that had kidnapped him 13 days before in Pakistan. (Dave Thompson/Getty Images)
3/16/2010
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/saeed97753838.jpg" alt="RELIEF: Mother of 5-year-old Sahil Saeed, Akila Naqqash holds up a picture of her son after being informed that he had been released by the gunman that had kidnapped him 13 days before in Pakistan. (Dave Thompson/Getty Images)" title="RELIEF: Mother of 5-year-old Sahil Saeed, Akila Naqqash holds up a picture of her son after being informed that he had been released by the gunman that had kidnapped him 13 days before in Pakistan. (Dave Thompson/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1822007"/></a>
RELIEF: Mother of 5-year-old Sahil Saeed, Akila Naqqash holds up a picture of her son after being informed that he had been released by the gunman that had kidnapped him 13 days before in Pakistan. (Dave Thompson/Getty Images)
LONDON-A 5-year-old boy kidnapped from his grandmother’s house at gunpoint while on a family holiday in Pakistan has been released.

Sahil Saeed, from Oldham in Greater Manchester, U.K., was found wandering in a field 20 miles from the city of Jhelum, in Punjab Province.

His kidnappers had demanded a ransom of £100,000 (US$152,100) for the release of the boy, a sum the family said there was “no way” they could afford.

However, Pakistani officials said that the ransom was paid by the boy’s father, posing fresh questions over how the money was raised.

In Oldham, family members and close friends were celebrating the news of Sahil’s release.

“I was gobsmacked when I spoke to him,” his mother, Akila Naqqash, told BBC. “He had been held for 13 long days but he spoke to me like nothing had happened.”

Indeed, Naqqash said that her son had been more concerned over whether his toys were still safe, than the fact that he had been kidnapped by a gang who had reportedly tortured his father.

“I was just so happy to hear his voice, to know that was my little boy and he was safe,” she added.

Sahil’s father, Raja Naqqash Saeed, had been on holiday with his son at the time of the abduction. Saeed was abducted as well, but was released last week and unexpectedly flew back to the U.K.

There were suggestions that he had returned to raise the ransom money for Sahil.

According to Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah a ransom had been paid by the boy’s father but he did not confirm whether it had been arranged by the British government.

“It is too early to say who arranged this and how,” Sanaullah told AP Television News.

The Foreign Office denied on Tuesday that it had paid the ransom. A spokeswoman said that as a matter of principle “substantive” ransoms were not paid to criminal gangs.

Assistant Chief Constable Dave Thompson of Greater Manchester Police told reporters in Oldham that he could not confirm the payment of a ransom because of confidentiality.

But he added that the reason for the father’s return was “very much about ensuring that the release of his child could be secured.”

Thompson would not comment on suggestions that the gang had employed agents in a third country, but confirmed that the inquiry was ongoing.

“It’s a fast-moving international inquiry,” he said.