- Police present suspects in court in Lahore.
- Recovery of money still in progress: IO tells court.
- No lawyer appears on behalf of Ahmad Raza Dar.
A court in Lahore on Monday extended by four days the remand of four suspects in a case involving the alleged kidnapping and rape of two foreign women.
The police presented four suspects, including the main suspect, Ahmad Raza Dar, before the court, where the investigating officer told the court that mobile phones and the vehicle allegedly used in the incident were recovered from the suspects.
The investigator said the recovery of the money was still in progress.
Three suspects – Sikandar Aziz Khan and Hassan Raza Sajid Ali – were represented by lawyer Salman Shahid during the proceedings. No lawyer appeared on behalf of Raza Dar.
After hearing the arguments, the court extended the pretrial detention of the suspects by four days to facilitate the continuation of the investigation.
The case stems from a first information report (FIR) registered at Defense Police Station C, Lahore against five suspects for the alleged kidnapping, extortion and sexual assault of two foreign nationals – a Venezuelan and a Dutchman.
On July 5, Faisal Kamran of the Lahore DIG Operations said the two foreign women arrived in Lahore on June 29 and were allegedly kidnapped soon after.
He said police launched an investigation after tracking down the vehicle involved and examining its travel history using Safe City cameras. He said the vehicle was tracked while taking the highway to Sargodha, while raids were also carried out in Shahdara and Defence.
According to DIG Kamran, the first ransom call was received on July 1 from a man identified as Carlos, who informed police that Spanish authorities had also been informed. He added that the Safe City Authority received a call on the emergency hotline the same day.
He said four suspects were arrested on July 2 after police traced phone numbers, vehicle details and location data.
