Five held after kidnap cash traced (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Five held after kidnap cash traced

10:22pm Wednesday 17th March 2010 in

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Dramatic new details have emerged about the kidnapping and release of a five-year-old British boy in Pakistan.

Five people have been arrested in France and Spain after Sahil Saeed's father paid a £110,000 ransom for the safe return of his son, police said.

Officers saw him hand over the money in Paris and later swooped on the suspects, according to a statement by Spanish police.

Sahil, from Oldham, Greater Manchester, was on holiday with his father, Raja Naqqash Saeed, 28, in the Punjab region when he was snatched by gunmen.

Interpol alerted Spanish authorities to the abduction and discovered the first call demanding a ransom was made from Spain.

The boy's father returned to Manchester as instructed by the kidnappers but was then told to go to Paris with the money.

Police were watching when the cash was handed over on a street in the French capital and began monitoring the suspects as they waited for news of the child's release, the statement said.

Spanish police said three people - two Pakistani men and a Romanian woman - were arrested when they raided a flat in Constanti, around 60 miles from Barcelona, after the youngster was freed. Two of them had been followed from Paris.

All three are due to appear in court in Spain on Thursday. Two more people, accused of helping the kidnappers, were arrested in Paris.

The youngster was found by locals wandering in a field yesterday, alone but unharmed, and was handed over to Pakistani police. It is thought that his father is now flying to Pakistan to collect his son.