ISLAMABAD, Oct 31: The city police on Friday said they recovered three children, who were kidnapped for ransom, and arrested the culprits, including a woman.

The kidnappers are close acquaintances of the victims’ families as they all hail from Khushab district. The children’s fathers, who are brothers, are settled in Italy while there families are living in Islamabad’s Sector I-10/2.

Mohammad Hasnain, 9, Mohammad Sajid, 7, and Mohammad Haseeb, 4, left for a park, located near Rajput Market, to play on October 26, but did not return. Their families started searching for them, however, they found no clue.

Later, one of the children – Hasnain – called his elder brother through a mobile phone but the line dropped before he completed a sentence. The police cited Hasnain as saying, “I am Hasnain calling” and then the call got disconnected.

After receiving the call, one of the victims’ family members, Mohammad Hussain, lodged a complaint with the Sabzi Mandi police regarding the kidnappings.

Later, another call was received in which the unknown caller demanded Rs40 million as ransom for the release of the boys.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ahmad Latif tasked Superintendent of Police (West-Circle) Nasir Aftab with putting the number under observation with the help of intelligence agencies.

A team comprising of SHO Inspector Khalid Mehmud Awan, sub-inspector Haji Ghulam Shabbir, head constable Mumtaz and constable Gulzar was constituted to investigate the case.

The culprits made some more calls to the victims’ family from different cellphone numbers, which were found registered in the name of residents of Khushab, and these were operated from Sargodha.

The investigation team with the cooperation of District Police Officer Sargodha Dr Usman Anwar succeeded to arrest the three kidnappers from Sargodha and also recovered the children.

All the accused were sent to judicial lockup in Sargodha. They are now being transferred to Islamabad for further investigation.