Govenment played no part in Sahil ransom payment

The Government played no part in the payment of a ransom for Shaw kidnap victim Sahil Saeed, according to Foreign Office Minister Glenys Kinnock.

She was replying to a written question and said that the Government’s policy of “not making or facilitating substantive concessions to hostage–takers, including the payment of ransoms, is long standing and clear”.

Five-year-old Sahil, a pupil at Rushcroft School, was seized in Pakistan earlier this month, and freed after a ransom of £110,000 was reportedly paid by his family, ending a 13–day ordeal.

“Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials were neither consulted about, nor authorised payment of, a ransom to secure the release of Sahil Saeed in Pakistan,” she said, adding that officials would continue to offer “consular assistance” to the families of those taken by kidnappers.

Several arrests have been made in Spain and Pakistan since Sahil’s release.