Freed British boy returns home for happy reunion (2nd Roundup)

Mar 18, 2010, 19:52 GMT

Islamabad/London - A 5-year-old British boy whose kidnapping in Pakistan involved a ransom payment and dramatic arrests in Europe Thursday arrived back home to an emotional welcome from family and friends.

Sahil Saeed was left wandering in a field by his kidnappers Tuesday in the eastern province of Punjab, near the town of Jehlum, where he had been seized by robbers from his grandparents' home on March 3.

He was reunited Thursday with his father, Raja Naquash Saeed, and other members of his family, at the residence of Britain's High Commissioner, Adam Thomson, in Islamabad.

Later Thursday, the Pakistan International Airlines plane that flew Sahil and his father home touched down at Manchester airport in northern Britain. The boy was later reunited in Oldham, Greater Manchester, with his mother, Akila.

It emerged Thursday that, while Sahil was in captivity, a phone call made from Spain instructed his father to travel to his home city of Manchester, in Britain, and then on to Paris, where police watched him hand over the ransom in a public street.

After Interpol traced the original ransom phone call to Spain, French police followed the people who took the money - stashed away in a bag and a trolley - to the border with Spain.

As soon as police were confident that Sahil was safe, French police arrested two Pakistani men in the French capital. They were later released.

Soon afterwards, two Pakistani men and a Romanian woman were arrested in a flat near the town of Tarragona, in northern Spain.

BBC television showed dramatic footage of the arrests in Spain by armed police and the discovery of the ransom of 110,000 pounds (168,000 dollars) in suitcases.

A laptop and the mobile phone used to call the boy's father were also found.

The three people arrested in Spain appeared in court in Tarragona Thursday, hiding their identity by pulling their coats over their heads.

'Sahil is doing well, he is in good spirits, and can't wait to return to the UK to see his mum, his family, and join his friends back at school,' Raja Naqqash said in a statement in Islamabad.

Footage released to the media about the reunion showed the boy playing football with his father in the garden. Sahil sent a message to his mother back home. 'Mummy, I miss you. Mummy, I love you,' he said.

In Pakistan, police arrested two men and a woman suspected of holding the boy for 13 days.

Kidnapping for ransom has become big business for criminals in Pakistan. According to official data, there were 480 reported cases of abductions with ransom demands last year.

But Sahil Saeed's case was striking as it involved an international criminal gang - consisting mostly of Pakistanis - as well as Interpol and police forces from four nations.