| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| Kidnapped Nigerian freed, LI men held |
| 2009-07-26 |
| [The News (Pak)] Security forces secured the release of two persons, including a foreigner, and arrested three kidnappers in Bara Tehsil of the Khyber Agency on Saturday. Talking to reporters, Brigadier Mujahid Hussain said that on a tip off, security forces raided the house of Hashim Khan in the Milot village and recovered two kidnapped persons, identified as Nwanneka from Nigeria and Habibullah, a resident of the Khyber Agency. He said the kidnappers arrested in the operation were identified as Zamindar, son of Duniya Gul, Mardan, son of Swat Khan, and Shah Wali, son of Abbas Ali, residents of Zakhakhel, Khyber Agency. He added that they were affiliated with the banned Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) outfit. He said the Nigerian citizen was picked up from Peshawar four months ago as he was leaving for Islamabad, adding that $27,000 were also snatched from him. He said the kidnappers had demanded a huge ransom for his release. Brigadier Mujahid said the other person who was recovered had been kidnapped from Badaber two years back and a huge ransom for his release was paid. A spokesman for the LI, Zar Khan, said the kidnappers had nothing to do with his organisation, alleging that they were involved in drug trafficking. Our correspondent from Mardan adds: A noted orthopaedic surgeon, who had been kidnapped last month, was recovered on Friday night. Talking to reporters, Dr Suresh Rajpal said the kidnappers kept him at an unknown place. "They did not give me sufficient food. I was shackled during my detention," he recalled. Dr Rajpal, who belongs to a family of Sikhs living for generations in Mardan, said he was released somewhere near Sardheri in the Charsadda district at midnight from where he made a phone call to his family. He said members of his family reached there and took him home. He denied payment of ransom to the kidnappers for his release. The doctor was kidnapped while he was on his way home from his clinic, situated at the Shamsi Road. Doctors in Mardan had staged demonstrations and demanded his recovery. The kidnappers contacted his father, Dr Indersin Rajpal, by phone and demanded Rs 50 million ransom for his release. The amount was subsequently reduced to Rs 20 million. |
| Posted by:Fred |