Confusion in Pakistan kidnap probe (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Confusion in Pakistan kidnap probe

8:40am Thursday 11th March 2010 in

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The five-year-old British boy allegedly kidnapped by gunmen in Pakistan has been found, it has been reported.

UK diplomats said they were "urgently" checking reports that Sahil Saeed, from Oldham in Greater Manchester, had been located by local police officers.

Sky News reported that he had been found on Wednesday, quoting Pakistani government officials.

But a spokesman for Muhammad Aslam Tareen, who is leading the investigation for Punjab police, said on Thursday that officers had "no update".

The boy was allegedly grabbed by gun and grenade-wielding raiders from his grandmother's house in Punjab last Thursday.

A spokesman at the British High Commission in Islamabad said he received "no evidence" on Thursday morning that the boy had been found. But he added: "We are urgently chasing reports."

There were conflicting reports that his father, Raja Naqqash Saeed, who was with him on the trip, had returned to Britain.

Relatives said the raiders struck as Sahil and his father were preparing to fly home, apparently subjecting the family to a six-hour ordeal after breaking into the house in Jhelum.

Pakistan's prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani called Sahil's father at the weekend to assure him the family had the full support of his government.

On Sunday, the boy's mother, Akila Naqqash, made a direct appeal to the abductors from the family home in Oldham to end their ordeal and let her son go. In a message to the kidnappers, Ms Naqqash said: "I just want my son back. All is forgiven, I will forgive you. You may have children yourself. I forgive you."