KARACHI: A 22-year-old son of a provincial assembly lawmaker was safely recovered from a house in Gadap after the killing of five suspected kidnappers in a ‘shoot-out’ near the Northern Bypass on Wednesday evening, police said.

Hayat Baloch, the eldest son of PPP legislator and Special Assistant to the Chief Minister on Katchi Abadis Murtaza Baloch, had been kidnapped along with some relatives on their way to Gadap from Malir Cantonment two days ago, officials said.

While other hostages were released at a deserted place in Gadap late Monday night, the kidnappers called from different areas in Karachi and Hub (Balochistan) to demand a ransom of Rs10 million for the safe release of Hayat, the officials said.

In his brief talk with the media following the youth’s recovery, Sindh Home Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal disclosed that two women were detained for interrogation during a raid on the building where Hayat had been kept by his captors for nearly two days.

Two women detained for interrogation

The police had traced the location of the hostage during a thorough search of the area on Tuesday with the help of the clues provided by the freed relatives of the victim, while the hideout of the kidnappers was identified with the help of modern technology, said Malir SSP Rao Anwar Ahmed.

“It was a mixture of technology and human intelligence that helped the police to trace the location of kidnappers and solve the case within two days,” said Additional IG Ghulam Qadir Thebo.

The city police chief said that ransom calls were made from Karachi and Hub. But the police were trying to ensure safe recovery of the youth for which the operation was launched on Wednesday evening as there was heavy rain on Tuesday.

AIG Thebo said that two police teams, one led by Special Investigation Unit and the other by Malir SSP Rao Anwar, were working on the case.

The kidnappers had demanded Rs10m ransom for his release, said Malir SSP while quoting the father of the hostage.

Rao Anwar said the police did not talk too much with the kidnap victim’s family, as they were in a state of shock. But one of the freed relatives told the police that the kidnappers had taken them in a vehicle and drove it for around 20 to 25 minutes before abandoning them. His relative told the police that there was heavy rain in the area. Based on the information, the police assumed that the criminals might not have covered much distance due to the flooding of the low-lying area.

Meanwhile, with technological help the police traced the hideout of the kidnappers near Northern Bypass and raided the place. However, the suspects resorted to firing in an attempt to flee. In the exchange of gunfire, all the five suspects were killed, the police officer said.

SSP Anwar said the kidnappers belonged to a local gang of criminals. There was no evidence suggesting their affiliation with any militant outfit, he said, adding that they “looked like locals”.

The police seized two TT pistols and a Kalashnikov from the custody of the deceased.

The search in the Gadap area culminated in the safe recovery of the youth from a house. Two women were picked up from the same building for interrogation, the home minister told the media after meeting Hayat at the Gadap City police station.

Mr Siyal also announced Rs1m cash reward and appreciation certificate for the police team.

Separately, Karachi police chief Ghulam Qadir Thebo also announced Rs100,000 for SSP Malir Rao Anwar and his team, which managed to recover the son of the lawmaker. The city police chief appreciated the performance of Rao Anwar, said the police spokesperson.

Earlier, the Gadap police had registered an FIR (105/2017) of the kidnapping on a complaint of Hayat’s cousin, Mohammed Yusuf.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2017