British boy reunited with family in Pakistan after kidnapping

Mar 18, 2010, 10:12 GMT

Islamabad - A 5-year-old British boy who was released by his kidnappers in Pakistan after the family paid ransom in Europe was reunited with his father Thursday, the British High Commission in Pakistan said.

The kidnappers left Sahil Saeed along a road Tuesday in the eastern province of Punjab near the town of Jehlum, where he was abducted in a March 3 robbery at his grandparent's home.

His father, Raja Naqash Saeed, flew from Britain and was reunited with his son Thursday at the Islamabad residence of British High Commissioner Adam Thomson.

'Everyone was in very good spirits and, of course, delighted about his return,' a statement from the mission said.

Members of Sahil's wider family, including his grandmother, were also at the reunion. Sahil and his father were expected to fly back to their family home in Oldham in Great Manchester.

Spanish police announced Wednesday that a Pakistani man and a Romanian woman were arrested for collecting a ransom of 111,000 pounds (168,000 US dollars) for Sahil in Paris and the money was recovered.

French police also arrested two Pakistanis as being accomplices.