Kidnap couple’s 10-year sentence

Sahil Saeed

A MARRIED couple have been sentenced by a Spanish court to 10 years in jail each for kidnapping a five-year-old boy from Shaw.

A panel of three judges at the Provincial Court in Tarragona found Muhammad Zahid Saleem and Gianina Monica Neruja guilty of snatching Sahil Saeed at gunpoint in Pakistan in March, 2010.

The court heard that Saleem and Neruja had made threatening calls to Sahil’s family and travelled to Paris to collect the £110,000 ransom from one of his uncles.

Saleem and his Romanian wife neruja were found not guilty of conspiracy, robbery, trespassing and unlawful arrest charges. Their Pakistani flatmate, Khawaja Fawaaz Munawar, was found not guilty of kidnap of a minor and conspiracy.

Sahil was snatched by an armed gang at his grandmother’s home during a holiday with his father in Jhelum, in Pakistan’s Punjab province.

During the trial, Raja Naqqash Saeed explained that his son has been left traumatised by the kidnapping and is having difficulties at school.

In a statement today, he said: “Myself and my family are very happy with the outcome in Spain. I would especially like to thank Greater Manchester Police for their hard work.”

Detective Chief Inspector Dave Pester, from GMP, said: “This was a challenging investigation which spanned a number of countries. Our valued relationship with the Serious Organised Crime Agency was pivotal.”





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