Family’s joy as Sahil found safe

Photo: Picture by DARREN ROBINSON

OVERJOYED . . . the scene at Sahil’s house in Queen Street today as his aunt Nabila Naheed and family celebrate the news of the boy’s release

THE family of young Sahil Saeed, kidnapped by gunmen in Pakistan, were today “overjoyed” after he was found safe and well.

The five-year-old, from Shaw, was snatched from a house in the Punjab region of the country on March 4 after robbers held his relatives hostage at gunpoint.

Sahil’s mother, Akila Naqqash, who had begged for his release, has now spoken to her son and is waiting for him to return to his home.

“They are overjoyed,” said a police liaison officer at the family home.

“For 12 or 13 days, waiting, building hopes up and then hopes going down. She is overjoyed. It is really happy, just really happy.

“Mother has spoken on the telephone and spoke to him for some time, a private conversation. He is safe and well. But the family do not want to say anything, they want to wait until he comes back.”

Family members went in and out of the terrace house in Queen Street with broad smiles of relief but refused to comment to reporters and TV crews outside.

Sahil is understood to still be in Pakistan and his return is being organised by the British High Commission in Islamabad. A spokesman confirmed that the boy had been located safe and well.

Adam Thomson, the British High Commissioner in Islamabad, said: “This is fantastic news. It brings to an end the traumatic ordeal faced by Sahil Saeed’s family.

“I would like to praise the high level of co–operation between the UK and Pakistani authorities and in particular I would like to thank the Jhelum police for their role in bringing about the safe return of Sahil.”

The five-year-old was snatched from his grandmother’s home in Jhelum in the Punjab region on March 4 at the end of a two-week holiday and a £100,000 ransom was demanded for his return.

Police say Sahil was found earlier today in Dinga, a town just 20 miles from where he was taken.

Immigration Minister and Oldham East and Saddleworth MP Phil Woolas said: “The co-operation between Greater Manchester Police and the Punjab police has led to Sahil’s safe return. Whatever the two-ing and fro-ing the police deserve our praise and thanks. I have been proud of the way the whole of Oldham has rallied behind the little boy.”

Former Oldham Mayor and family friend Riaz Ahmad said: “I am hugely relieved that Sahil has been found safe and well. This is what we have all been hoping and praying for over the past two weeks.

“I am so happy for the family and it has become a huge talking point in Oldham so I think there will be lots of people pleased at the news that Sahil is coming home.

“The details of what happened to Sahil or how he was found are still far from clear but Sahil has spoken to his mother and she is overjoyed that he is coming home.”

Raiders struck as Sahil, a pupil at Rushcroft Primary, and his father, Raja Naqqash Saeed, were loading suitcases into a taxi on their way to the airport.

Pakistani police arrested the taxi driver, several other men and a woman and refused to rule out the possibility that Sahil’s kidnap was an inside job.

Jane Sheridan, headteacher at Rushcroft Primary, said: “We are delighted to hear that Sahil has been released safe and well.

“Along with his family we eagerly await his return to Oldham, and back to Rushcroft where he has been missed by his friends and teachers.”

Sahil’s father Naqqash Saeed, returned to the UK at the start of last week, despite reports police in Pakistan wanted him to stay in the country as a witness.