A five-year-old British boy kidnapped while on a family holiday in Pakistan this month has been released safe and sound, the British high commission in Islamabad and a relative said Tuesday.
Sahil Saeed was taken from his grandmother's house in the town of Jhelum, about 100 kilometres (65 miles) south of Islamabad, in the early hours of March 4 while preparing to leave with his Pakistani father to fly back to Britain.
"This is fantastic news. It brings to an end the traumatic ordeal faced by Sahil and his family," British High Commissioner (ambassador) Adam Thomson said in a statement read out by a spokesman for the diplomatic mission.
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"I would like to praise the high level of cooperation between UK and Pakistani authorities and in particular I would like to thank the Jhelum police for their role in bringing about the safe return of Sahil," he added.
The British high commission said the boy was "safe and sound" but gave no details on when, where or how he had been released, nor confirmed his current whereabouts.
The circumstances surrounding the boy's disappearance were also unclear.
Relatives said he was taken by robbers who stole jewellery, cash and demanded a 120,000-dollar ransom, but Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik alleged that Sahil was taken by someone "very close to the family".
The family vigorously denied claims that the kidnapping was an inside job and a relative said Tuesday they were overjoyed that Sahil was safe.
"We are at home. The whole family has gathered. We are very happy, we are thanking God and we hope that we will see him after two hours," Sahil's maternal great uncle Raja Basharat told AFP by telephone from Jhelum.
"We were informed an hour before that Sahil has been recovered, but I can't disclose the authorities who recovered him," he added.
But a paternal uncle contacted by AFP said he had no information on Sahil's release. Rana Sanaullah, the law minister of Punjab province, told Dawn television that the Pakistani authorities would later release a statement.
Although kidnappings of Westerners are rare in Pakistan, kidnappings of locals are all too common in Pakistani towns and cities.
They are often related to family quarrels, love affairs, property disputes or simple quests for money -- particularly for the wealthier victims -- by criminal gangs, some of whom are connected to Islamist militant networks.
Sahil's Pakistani father had said the abductors stormed the house armed with guns and grenades, subjecting the family to a six-hour ordeal while he and his son were preparing to take a taxi to the airport and fly home.
Police quickly detained the taxi driver and had said they were confident of recovering the child.
In Oldham, northern England, Sahil's British mother Akila Naqqash had made an emotional plea for her son's safe return, telling his captors: "I just want my son back. All is forgiven, I will forgive you."
