The eight members of a kidnapping gang, whose arrests were announced by the paramilitary Rangers, are said to be qualified and professionals doing jobs in government organisations, according to officials privy to the questioning of the suspects.
Making revelations during interrogations, the gang members have said that before abducting a young man, Hamza, son of a jeweller in Gulshan-e-Maymar, they had kidnapped his mother and the family paid the ransom money to them without informing the police.
They say their gang was allegedly involved in kidnappings for ransom and sale and purchase of non-customs paid vehicles.
Adnan Akhtar, one of the suspects, is a close relative of Hamza, who was recovered during a joint raid conducted by Rangers and AVCC personnel.
Akhtar was the mastermind of both the kidnappings.
Two other supsects, Hammad and Umair, are personnel of the Pakistan customs, while Zeeshan is an under- training ASI in the Sindh police.
Another suspect, Masood, was posted at the Khawaja Ajmair Nagri police station.
Another gang member, Hassan Adnan, is a second-year student of LLB, while Zohaib works as an agent at the KDA.
On Thursday, Rangers and police had announced the arrests of the eight suspects at a press conference addressed by Wing Commander Rangers Colonel Sikandar, who was flanked by police officials.
The officials also claimed to have seized six non- customs paid vehicles, arms and currency from their possession.
The Ranger official said the arrests were made by tracing WhatsApp calls.He said this was the first time when the suspects had been arrested with help of tracing WhatsApp calls.
He said the suspects allegedly kidnapped a son of a jeweller in Gulshan-e-Maymar and demanded Rs20 million as ransom money.
They took Rs3.5 million from the family.The Rangers official said that over Rs1.9 million had so far been recovered from their possession, while the abducted son, Hamza, was also safely recovered.
Anti-Violent Crime Cell SSP Maroof Usman told media that a special joint team of the Rangers and the AVCC was constituted following the kidnapping of Hamza, and the team traced and arrested the suspects.
The suspects used WhatsApp calls from the abducted person’s cell phone to demand ransom money.
