Kidnap boy’s family angry over ‘inside job’ claim

By Charlotte McCathie

Saturday, March 06, 2010

THE family of a five-year-old British boy snatched by gun-wielding raiders in Pakistan has angrily insisted the kidnap was not an "inside job".

Several men — including a taxi driver — have been arrested in connection with the abduction of Sahil Saeed, who was taken on Thursday from his grandmother’s house in the Punjab region.

The boy’s mother, Akila Naqqash, and aunt, Amrana Iftikhar, spoke out after Wajid Shamsul Hasan, the Pakistani High Commissioner in Britain, said there was "a possibility of someone in the family having some sort of knowledge".

Breaking down in tears at the family home in Oldham, Greater Manchester, Iftikhar said: "We are such a close family, no family member could do this toa child, not our family."

Naqqash spoke of the frustration for relatives as they wait for news. She said: "We are getting no answers. How are they treating him? Is he eating? He is just a little boy, what has he done wrong?"

The armed raiders, wielding guns and grenades, apparently subjected the family in Pakistan to a six-hour ordeal after breaking into the house in Jhelum. The attackers are said to have demanded a £100,000 ransom for the boy’s return.

Hasan said detectives were looking at the possibility of whether the kidnap was "a sort of inside job". But speaking later on ITV News he appeared to distance himself from the comments, saying: "I did not say that it is an inside job done by the family, I said somebody nearby must have informed those criminals and they must be in league with them. For example we are suspecting the driver who brought them home or anybody relating to him could have done it.

"Although there have been leads, there have been arrests and the taxi driver has been arrested and he is being questioned and there are other leads also which tend to certain telephone calls. I can’t tell you about the whereabouts of those telephone calls for the safety of the child or I can’t name the persons who have been arrested."

Naqqash, 31,begged the British government for its help as she renewed her bid to have her little boy returned. She had previously said there was "no way" her family could afford the six-figure ransom on his head.

Naqqash said: "He must be scared now. I am pleading, please, just help us."

His great-uncle, Matlub Ahmed, 55, who also ruled out any family involvement, said they had not heard from the kidnappers but were in regular contact with his nephew, Raja Naqqash Saeed, Sahil’s father.

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Saturday, March 06, 2010