Police on Sunday claimed to have detained more than a dozen suspects during an operation and said they had gathered evidence that could help recover two children recently kidnapped from Karachi’s Garden area.
Aliyan, also known as Ali, five, and Ali Raza, six, went missing in Garden town on Tuesday. According to South Deputy Inspector General Syed Asad Raza, CCTV footage revealed that they had been taken away by a man and a woman riding a motorcycle.
Garden police registered a first information report (FIR) under Section 364A (kidnapping or abduction of a person below 14 years of age) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Section 3 of the Prevention of Crime Act. Human Trafficking of 2018 on the complaint of Zainab Younus, Aliyan’s mother.
A combing and search operation led by city Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Arif Aziz was carried out in search of the two missing children. Officers from Garden, Nabi Bux, Kalakot, Chakiwara, Kalri and other police stations, including agents and intelligence personnel, joined the operation.
“During the search operation, 19 suspects were detained and taken to a police station,” according to the city police spokesperson. He said the suspects were being questioned.
“Certain evidence has been obtained which can help the police recover the children very soon,” SSP Aziz said, adding that the children will be reunited with their parents as soon as possible.
Separately, the police have announced a reward of Rs 300,000 for providing information about the missing children.
A day ago, a seven-year-old boy who had been missing for more than a week in Karachi was found dead in the underground water tank of a residential complex near his home.
On January 7, Mohammed Sarim, who had gone for lessons at a madrasa near his home in northern Karachi, went missing and a ransom call was reportedly made to the family for his release.
However, a statement from the Bilal Colony police said that Sarim’s body was recovered from a water tank at Anam Apartments in New Karachi.
According to an August report by Sahil, a non-governmental organization working for children’s rights, a total of 1,630 cases of child abuse were reported across the country in 2024.
In the first six months of 2024, 862 cases of child sexual abuse, 668 cases of abduction, 82 cases of missing children and 18 cases of child marriages were reported.
The semi-annual data showed that of the total reported cases, (962) 59 percent of the victims were girls, while (668) 41 percent were boys.
