NOWSHERA: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police have busted an international gang involved in kidnapping young men by luring them with promises of a bright future in Europe, officials said on Monday.
Addressing a press conference, District Police Officer (DPO) Abdul Rasheed said that a seven-member gang had been arrested for kidnapping and extorting large sums of money from families in exchange for releasing the abductees.
The gang would promise to send youth abroad and then abduct them upon their arrival in Pakistan, demanding thousands of dollars in ransom, he said.
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Unfolding further details, the DPO said Muhammad Asif Wafa, a resident of Nangarhar, Afghanistan, had lodged a complaint that he had contacted an agent via WhatsApp, who instructed him to travel from Afghanistan to Jehangira, Nowshera.
“On May 7, 2025, upon his arrival at Jehangira Chowk, three kidnappers forced him into a car. Shortly after, they blindfolded him at gunpoint and took him to a room in a hilly area where he was tied up, hung upside down, and tortured intermittently. His abductors demanded a ransom of $40,000 from his family. Eventually, $25,000 was transferred to an account in Turkey in exchange for his release,” the DPO said.
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He informed reporters that a case was registered at Akora Khattak police station while the investigation was assigned to SP Investigations Alamzeb Khan, SDPO Jawad Khan, SHO Ashfaq Ahmed, and OII Hidayat Khan.
Using modern investigative techniques, the DPO added, the police team traced and arrested the gang’s mastermind, Nooruddin alias Toor Gul, a resident of Afghanistan currently living in Khairabad.
He said that Nooruddin, who is also a wanted criminal, confessed during interrogation and named his accomplices: Rehmat alias Shaanay (Fateh Jang), Mattu alias Rambo (Fateh Jang), Majid son of Gul Badshah (Khairabad), and three others currently unidentified.
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Subsequently, police raided locations and arrested two gang members — Mattu and Majid — recovering weapons, the vehicle used in the crime, and ransom money.
Police said efforts are underway to apprehend the remaining suspects with assistance from Fateh Jang police. “We also plan to involve Interpol to pursue suspects operating from abroad, including in Turkey,” the DPO said.