Minor girl recovered in Sahiwal 48 hours after disappearance from bus stop

SAHIWAL: Police in Sahiwal said they recovered an 11-year-old girl nearly 48 hours after she went missing from the E-Green bus stop at Jogi Chowk on April 8 while she was with her maternal aunt.

According to City Police, the child, Faizain Bibi, belongs to Chak Thatha Anayat in Okara district. Police said she had travelled to Sahiwal with her aunt, Shaheen Bibi, for shopping. The two were waiting for the E-Green bus at Jogi Chowk when the girl suddenly disappeared.

Police said passengers and other people present at the bus stop searched for the child, but she could not be found. The family first tried to trace her on their own and later registered a case at City Police Station on the complaint of her father, Muhammad Nawaz. The case was registered as No. 282/26 under Section 363 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Sahiwal District Police Officer Usman Tipu formed a special team headed by SP Investigation Shafqat Rasheed to locate the girl. Station House Officer Rai Nasir said investigators examined CCTV footage and found that a middle-aged woman had taken the child away in a rickshaw from Jogi Chowk.

Police said they traced the rickshaw through Safe City cameras and other CCTV footage. The investigation showed that the girl was first taken to Pakpattan Chowk and later shifted to Montgomery Chowk in another rickshaw. Investigators suspect the woman gave the child an intoxicant, after which she lost consciousness.

According to police, geo-fencing and forensic analysis helped identify two phone numbers that remained in regular contact with the suspect. Further investigation, they said, showed that the girl had not been moved out of Sahiwal and was instead kept in a rented house in a street near Montgomery Chowk.

After tracing the location through call data analysis, police kept the house under surveillance. In the early hours of April 10, they raided the premises, arrested the suspect, identified as 45-year-old Nusrat Bibi of Chichawatni, and recovered the girl safely. Police said the child was later handed over to her parents.

SHO Rai Nasir said the suspect told police she had found the girl alone and taken her home, but did not inform the authorities. However, police suspect she intended to sell the child and said she had been in contact with some buyers. Nusrat Bibi, who police said has three children from her first marriage, remains in custody while the investigation continues.

Police also took her husband, Ali Sher Baloch of 98/9-L, Tehsil Sahiwal, into custody for questioning.

Shopkeeper robbed after being lured into car

In a separate incident, a shopkeeper was allegedly robbed of Rs167,000 by a couple who, police said, enticed him into their car on Arifwala Road on Friday evening.

According to police, Muhammad Amin, a resident of 30/EB in Pakpattan city, had come to Sahiwal to buy trading goods. While returning, he was waiting for a bus at Arifwala Chowk when a car carrying three people, including a woman, stopped and offered him a ride.

Police said Amin accepted the offer. Soon after he got into the vehicle, the woman allegedly placed a cotton cloth over his face, causing him to lose consciousness. The suspects then took his cash and mobile phone and left him in a field along Multan Road before escaping.

Passersby later found Amin and alerted police. Ghala Mandi police have registered a case under Sections 397 and 420 of the Pakistan Penal Code against unidentified suspects. No arrests had been made so far, according to police.