Five arrests after boy's abduction

Reuters

COMING HOME: Akila Naqqash holds a picture of her son Sahil Saeed, inside the family home in Oldham, northern England.

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Police have arrested five people in the kidnapping of a five-year-old British boy in Pakistan and recovered more than 100,000 pounds (NZ$214,000) in ransom money.

Three people were arrested in the town of Constanti, in Spain's Catalonia region, two of whom collected the ransom in Paris, national police said in a statement.

The other two arrests were made in Paris and they are relatives of the suspects in Spain, police said.

The child, Sahil Saeed, was released Tuesday, almost two weeks after being abducted from his grandparents' house in central Pakistan.

A senior Pakistani provincial official said a ransom was paid for the release of the boy, who is of Pakistani origin and lived in the Manchester area of England.

Spanish authorities were alerted to the kidnapping by Interpol and later determined that the first call demanding a 110,000 pounds ransom payment was made from Spain.

The child's father travelled to Manchester as instructed by the kidnappers to pay the ransom. From there, he was told to go to Paris instead, where the payment was finally made.

Police were watching when the money changed on a street in broad daylight. Police started monitoring the suspects, while awaiting word of the child's release, which came Tuesday, the statement said.

Two who had collected the money were arrested upon their return to Spain, along with a third person in Catalonia. And French police arrested the two others in Paris.

Police didn't give their nationalities, but El Pais newspaper said the suspects in Spain were two Pakistani men and a woman from Romania.

The three will go before a judge Thursday, the Superior Court of Catalonia said.

- AP