THE family of the five-year-old British boy kidnapped by gunmen in Pakistan were “overjoyed” today after he was found safe and well.
Sahil Saeed was snatched from a house in the Punjab region of Pakistan 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 in Oldham.
“They are overjoyed,” said a police liaison officer at the family home.
“They were made aware he had been found safe and well. Mother has spoken on the telephone and spoke to him for some time.”
Today, family members went in and out of the terraced house with broad smiles of relief but refused to comment to reporters.
Sahil was understood to still be in Pakistan and his return was being organised by the British High Commission in Islamabad.
Foreign Office officials said they were unable at present to provide any more details about Sahil’s release.
Sahil, from Oldham, was on holiday with his father, Raja Naqqash Saeed, in Pakistan when he was snatched.
The kidnappers apparently demanded a £100,000 ransom for the boy’s return.
But his family said there was “no way” they could afford any such payment.
Sahil’s father 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.
Police official Ijaz Ahmed said Sahil was found earlier today in the town of Dinga in Punjab province, 20 miles (30km) from his relatives’ house in Jhelum.