'Missing' siblings back home a day after disappearance from Karachi's North Nazimabad area

KARACHI: Two young siblings — a boy and a girl — "safely returned" to their home a day after going missing from outside their residence in the North Nazimabad area of Karachi, Central Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Zeeshan Siddiqui confirmed on Wednesday.

The matter of the children's disappearance came to the fore earlier in the day after the police registered a case on their maternal uncle's complaint, Geo News reported. 

The 12-year-old and 11-year-old had gone out of their house at around 11pm on Tuesday, their uncle had told the police.

However, the police later said that the two came back to their home.

Speaking to Geo News, SSP Siddiqui said that the siblings told the police in their statements that they left home on their own. He said that he would personally meet the kids to record their testimonies.

Later, the boy told the police in his statement that he and his sister stayed at a couple's house last night.

"We left home willingly on our own. We spent the night at an uncle aunty's house. [Maternal] grandmother and aunt used to hurl abuse words at us and made us do the cleaning," he said. 

"We approached the uncle aunty when we saw them and they took us to their house," he added.

Sindh Rangers foil 'kidnapping for ransom' bid

Surprisingly, soon after the missing siblings came back home, Pakistan Rangers, Sindh said that they thwarted a "kidnapping for ransom" bid, which resulted in their safe return.

A Rangers spokesperson said that the missing children's mother received a ransom call on March 12 from outside the country, with a demand of Rs1 million for the children's return.

However, the Rangers traced the missing siblings using "modern technical sources", leaving no choice for the kidnappers but to leave the children in Haideri area to avoid arrest.

Earlier, Central SSP Siddiqui had told Geo News that the parents of the said kids are separated and a conflict was going on between them for the custody of their children.

The police had registered a case of missing children at North Nazimabad Police Station against unidentified individuals.

According to the first information report (FIR) the children had left the house at 11:55pm.

The mother of the missing kids said that her children had been been missing since 12 last night.

"The kids went to buy burgers and there has been no information about their whereabouts since then," she added.

She also said that they searched the kids everywhere, however, they could not find them and the police have no information about their whereabouts either.

"I have separated from my husband for nine years and after our separation, he remarried and I moved to Dubai. I had left my kids to my mother for their education," the mother said.