Lahore court extends remand of four suspects in case involving two foreign women

LAHORE: A Lahore court on Monday granted police another four days of physical remand for four suspects in a case concerning the alleged kidnapping and rape of two foreign women.

Police presented the four men, including the main suspect Ahmad Raza Dar, before the court. During the proceedings, the investigating officer told the court that police had recovered mobile phones and the vehicle allegedly used in the incident from the suspects. He said the recovery of money was still outstanding.

Three of the suspects — Sikandar Aziz Khan, Hassan Raza and Sajid Ali — were represented by advocate Salman Shahid, while no counsel appeared for Ahmad Raza Dar. After hearing arguments, the court approved a four-day extension in remand for further investigation.

Case background

The case relates to an FIR registered at Lahore’s Defence C Police Station against five suspects on allegations of kidnapping, extortion and sexual assault involving two foreign nationals, one from Venezuela and the other from the Netherlands.

According to Lahore DIG Operations Faisal Kamran, the two women arrived in Lahore on June 29 and were allegedly abducted shortly afterwards. He had said police began the inquiry after tracing the vehicle linked to the case and reviewing its movement through Safe City cameras.

DIG Kamran said the vehicle was tracked as it travelled on the motorway towards Sargodha, while police also carried out raids in Shahdara and Defence. He said the first ransom call was received on July 1 from a man identified as Carlos, who informed police that Spanish authorities had also been alerted. He added that the Safe City Authority received a call on the emergency helpline the same day.

According to the DIG, four suspects were arrested on July 2 after police traced phone numbers, vehicle details and location data.