The Islamabad Police, in an extraordinary breakthrough, recovered the four-year-old daughter of Dr. Najeeb-ur-Rehman, a physicist of the Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), who was kidnapped for ransom from Shahzad Town on August 5.

The raiding team recovered her from Shergarh (Mardan) and arrested seven captors involved in the kidnapping of the minor girl, police sources told ‘The News.’

SP (City Zone) Captain Ilyas, leading the raiding team, raided the hideout of the captor in the wee hours of Friday and recovered the girl, sources said. The SP was wounded in scuffle with the captor during the operation. The captors had chained the kidnapped girl.

Inspector General of Police (Islamabad) Bani-Amin Khan handed over the minor girl to her parents in the office of SP (City Zone). Heart-touching scenes were witnessed on the occasion. Every eye was wet when the crying girl embraced her mother.

The captors, hailing from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab, operated professionally in kidnapping the girl, leaving no clue behind them, but police got clue within five days of the occurrence, the police said adding that the criminals were involved in heinous crimes and wanted by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Islamabad police for various offences.

The mother of Hamail Najeeb, the kidnapped girl, told the Shahzad Town Police that her daughter was playing in front of the house in Street 11, Shahzad Town, and she went missing at about 10:30 a.m. Police believed that the girl could be kidnapped for ransom, but the family did not receive any call from the captors. A neighbour woman told police that two young men, riding a bike, picked up the girl and sped away.

The Shahzad Town Police took up the case, but failed to get any clue of the captors, sources said. Sources added that the IGP, keeping in view the sensitivity of the case and incompetence of the area police, shifted the case to the City Zone, constituting a team headed by SP (City Zone) Captain Ilyas, and decided to supervise the case personally.

IGP (Islamabad) Bani-Amin Khan, explaining the story of the breakthrough, told ‘The News’ that a couple of days after the kidnapping, the captors sent a letter with a mobile phone number to the family members, demanding ransom amount, asking them to send them a mobile phone number through SMS for safe contact. They added that the girl was safe with them yet.

The police team started networking on the mobile phone number provided by the captors and short-listed some mobile phone numbers, located in Takht Bhai, through Geo Fencing and got location of a number at Melody Market in Islamabad, the IGP said. He added that police traced the mobile phone-holder identified as Saeed who was plumber by profession. When the team grilled Saeed, he disclosed the name of an accomplice identified as Alamgir Khan, the IGP said. He added that Alamgir Khan was trapped through Saeed who asked him to meet him at Melody Market when he was near Chakri on his motorbike. As he reached Melody Market, police arrested him, who disclosed that Habibullah was the leading character of the episode and he made the plan of the kidnapping, the IG said adding that the brother of Alamgir, identified as Nadir Khan, was trapped through Alamgir, who called him at Dhokri Chowk, telling him that he sustained serious injuries in a road accident, and he should reach there as soon as possible.

The most important character of the episode was Ali, who was in Shergarh, and the kidnapped girl was with him, Bani-Amin Khan said adding that police tried to trap him through Nadir, but he refused to come to Islamabad. However, the IG sent a team, headed by Captain Ilyas, late Thursday night with the arrested suspect, but when hunted down he retaliated and scuffled with police to get free and shouted for help, giving the impression that a gang of criminals was trying to kidnap him. The Islamabad Police team with the help of area police dragged him to the police station where he disclosed that the kidnapped girl was in his house at Shergarh.

The IGP said that when the team reached his house with Ali, his wife was escaping from the house with Hamail Najeeb, but police intercepted her at Fatehgarh and recovered the girl safely.

Scared Hamail Najeeb told this correspondent that the captors slapped her and one of them put his hand on her mouth after they picked her up from Shahzad Town.IGP Bani-Amin Khan handed over the girl to her parents at the office of SP (City Zone) in a ceremony and addressed a press conference.

The atmosphere became tense when suspects were being taken to the conference room. One of the close relatives of the kidnapped girl came forward and slapped the main suspect who picked up the girl. The suspects were later sent to the other room to avoid untoward situation.