Dir Police bust gang using foreign numbers for ransom calls

PESHAWAR: The Upper Dir Police have busted a three-member gang that had kidnapped a boy for Rs20 million ransom and subsequently killed him to evade arrest.

The police used the latest technology to trace the UK number used for demanding ransom after approaching the WhatsApp headquarters in the United States. The cops recovered the mobile phone used in the case from a relative of the boy moments before he was about to leave for Saudi Arabia.

“A boy named Arman, son of Ismail, went missing on January 26 from Karo Darra village in the limits of Warri Police Station. The police reached the parents and started the investigation after lodging the case,” said District Police Officer Waqar Ahmad.

He added that in the meantime, the father of Arman, who was in KSA, contacted his family after receiving a ransom call from a UK number, confirming the boy had been kidnapped. His father reached home after four days in a bid to recover his son.

“After lodging the case, we approached the WhatsApp headquarters to get the details about the UK number used in the ransom call. They helped the cops in getting the local IP addresses,” said the DPO. He added that the Federal Investigation Agency and other concerned departments were also involved, and the phone was found to be in use by the relatives of the kidnapped boy who was about to leave for Saudi Arabia.

“After getting the phone, the cops further investigated and arrested Hazrat Hussain, Gulshad, and Usman. They were either relatives of the kidnapped boy or known to him,” said Waqar. He added that the accused confessed to kidnapping the boy for 250,000 riyals but they killed him the same day so he could not tell their names.

“Even after killing the boy, they continued demanding the ransom money. One of the accused even joined the father of the boy in the search for his son despite knowing he is no longer in this world,” the DPO said. He added that the kidnappers hired the services of a technical expert to change their voice and use an international number to dodge the police to get Rs1.5 million.

Police later recovered the body of the boy from the local graveyard on the pointation of the arrested accused. The DPO praised the cops who investigated the case as well as the efforts of the regional police officer, Mohammad Ali Khan, in working out a case involving technology and international numbers.