Mum’s ‘let him go’ plea to captors

COME home . . . tearful Akila Naqqash clings to a picture of kidnapped son, Sahil

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THE mother of a five-year-old Oldham boy kidnapped in Pakistan for a £100,000 ransom wept as she pleaded with his captors to let him go.

Sahil Saeed was snatched at gunpoint in the Punjab region on Wednesday evening during a visit to a sick grandmother with his dad.

His terrified mother, Akila Naqqash, is being comforted at the family’s home in Queen Street, Shaw.

She struggled to hold back the tears yesterday as she told how the the family had “no chance” of meeting the ransom.

Her husband, Naqqash Saeed, is unemployed and the mother-of-three said: “Sahil was having such a good time out there, he was excited about seeing his grandmother.

“I found out at 7.45am yesterday when my sister knocked on the door, I was just making breakfast for my daughter.

“She said ‘you need to sit down I’ve got some bad news’.

“I just broke down and thought it can’t be true so I phoned my husband and he said it was true.

“I just cried and cried. That was the last time I spoke to him, I can’t get through to him.

“We haven’t heard anything from the kidnappers. All we can do is wait.

“We have got no idea why we were targeted, we don’t have any money. There is no way we could raise that money, there is nothing we can do.

“I would say to the kidnappers just why. Why can’t you just be a grown person?

“He is only a little boy. He is five-years-old, he was due to come home today. Please don’t hurt him.

The Rushcroft Primary School pupil — who does not speak Punjabi — and his father were preparing to leave for the airport to catch a flight back to Manchester when the drama unfolded.

Mr Saeed (28) was loading a suitcase into a car when the four robbers, armed with guns and hand grenades, struck.

He was subjected to an horrific six-hour ordeal in which the family were beaten, slapped and kicked, and was “hysterical” when the men fled with his son, along with jewellery and money.

The kidnappers originally issued a deadline of 9am, British time, yesterday for the ransom.

Sahil was devoted to his sisters Anisha (4) and 21-month-old Hafsah.

Mrs Naqqash (31) said: “I phoned him every day of the last two weeks.

“When I last spoke to him he said he couldn’t wait to come home and have a jacket potato, he was fed up of the chapatis. He loves jacket potatoes with sweetcorn, cucumber, salad, he is a very healthy little boy.

“He told me his dad had bought him some sweets and he joked that he would save me some for when he gets home. We all went out last week for his aunt’s birthday and he was so happy, he got a rose from someone selling them in the restaurant and he gave it to me.

“We hired a limo and we were so happy.

“He is always smiling, he has lots of friends. He is very popular at school, he loves his friends and his teachers and his school dinners.

There are worries that Sahil will not be able to communicate with the kidnappers because he can only speak English. His aunt, Amrana Iftikhar, said that Mr Saeed had contacted her husband from Pakistan to tell him what had happened.

She added “Naqqash is devastated, he could not get his words out, he was screaming, he is distraught. I just can’t imagine life without Sahil. We just want him home safely.

“We have had no contact with the authorities in this country. Please just help us. He is is going to be really scared, he never leaves his mum and dad’s side. I would say to the Prime Minister do as much as you can to get him back because we need him home with us.”