Sahil kidnap ordeal: three face Spanish court

SAHIL Saeed who was snatched by an armed gang

THREE people were appearing in court in Spain today over the kidnap of a Shaw boy who was released unharmed after a 12–day ordeal.

Youngster Sahil Saeed was snatched by an armed gang during a holiday in Pakistan with his father in March, 2010.

The kidnappers struck while Sahil, then five, was staying at his grandparents’ house in Jhelum in the Punjab region of the country.

An international police operation was launched and his father returned to Europe, going to Paris where he was said to have handed over a £111,000 ransom to secure his son’s release.

The defendants on trial today, two Pakistani men and a Romanian woman, were arrested in Spain after police followed two of them from the French capital. On the same day of March 16, Sahil was released in Pakistan as a result of a phone call made to his family.

Muhammad Zahid Saleem, Muhammed Sageiz and Gianina Monica Neruja were appearing in court in the north–eastern city of Tarragona for their trial scheduled to last up to three weeks.

They have yet to enter pleas to charges of kidnap of a minor, conspiracy, robbery in conjunction with a crime of trespassing and eight charges of unlawful arrest.


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