ISLAMABAD: The police have provided new details regarding the identity and motives of four suspects arrested in the kidnapping and murder of a five-year-old boy who went missing on Dec 21 and whose body was found on Dec 24.

Police officers told Dawn that all the suspects are the children of government officials. Three of them are between the ages of 21 and 22, and another is 26.

The eldest among them is married. He is the son of a retired sobaidar who is now in the property business, police said. They added that he worked in Saudi Arabia as a cook from 2015 to 2018, and returned to Pakistan last year.

Police claimed the man was addicted to hashish and had introduced the drug to the other suspects.

Another suspect is the victim’s cousin and next door neighbour. He completed is A Levels from a well known school in the capital, the police officers said, and his father works for the Oil and Gas Development Company. The third suspect holds an undergraduate degree and is the son of a grade 17 official.

Police said all four of the suspects are unemployed and planned to use the ransom from the child’s kidnapping for various expenses.

The fourth suspect is the son of an Islamabad police official, they said. He was planning to elope with a woman whose family had opposed their relationship, and shared his plan with the other three suspects, they said.

Police said the eldest suspect suggested kidnapping someone for ransom, and the suspects agreed to abduct the five-year-old boy and ask for a Rs2.5 million ransom.

They said they began planning the abduction two months ago. One of the suspects, the degree holder, found a house in the same locality as the victim’s and rented it for Rs10,000 a month.

Police said he paid the landlady Rs1,000 and said he would pay her the rest next month, but there was no written agreement between them.

The victim’s cousin was allegedly responsible for abducting him and bringing him to the house, the police officers said. The eldest suspect was responsible for looking after the child until the ransom was paid.

Another suspect also arranged SIM cards that the suspects could use to communicate, they said, as well as unregistered SIMs for ransom calls but these were never made.

The officers said that the police initially picked up the suspect who was needed money to elope. He revealed the victim’s location and the identity of the other suspects during interrogation, they said.

They added that they had hoped for a safe recovery, but the child was recovered after he had died. They said that a medico-legal officer had determined that the victim died 24 to 36 hours before his body was found.

They added that the police’s methods of searching for victims of kidnappings and kidnappings for ransom are different.

In kidnapping for ransom cases, the police’s main concern is recovering the victim safely. In such cases, the recovery of the victim by paying the ransom or through police action can take time, they said.

They also said that the police carried out a door-to-door search in the area after the child was abducted, among other efforts.

The victim’s cousin, who is one of the suspects, allegedly took an interest in the case, claiming that he was assisting so that the victim would be recovered safely. As a result, he had information regarding the police’s efforts.

The police officers said the suspect who was responsible for looking after the victim sedated him and restrained him with tape.

They said the suspects were worried they might be arrested during the door-to-door search, so they hid the child in a cupboard and left the house. They also knew that the victim would identify his cousin if released after the ransom was paid, they said.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2019