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

LAHORE: A judicial magistrate on Thursday extended the physical remand of three suspects by four more days in a case concerning the alleged kidnapping and rape of two foreign women.

Defence C police produced the suspects after completion of their earlier remand and sought more time in custody to recover weapons allegedly used in the incident. During the hearing, the magistrate asked what items had been recovered during the previous remand. The prosecutor told the court that weapons had already been recovered from two suspects, while a weapon linked to the third suspect was still to be recovered. He further said that cash, jewellery and a watch allegedly connected to the case had not yet been recovered.

After hearing the arguments, the magistrate accepted the police request and ordered that the three suspects remain in physical remand for another four days. The court also directed police to produce them again on July 20.

Case background

Police registered the case on July 2 against five suspects on charges including kidnapping for ransom and sexual assault. The two complainants are nationals of the Netherlands and Venezuela, and had come to Pakistan to visit their friends.

The case was lodged after the Police Emergency Helpline 15 received a call from Spain from the father of one of the women, who reported the incident. The first information report states that five suspects, including a close relative of a senior political personality, abducted the women, demanded ransom and sexually assaulted them during their captivity. The FIR says the suspects demanded $1.5 million in ransom. The case includes charges under Sections 375-A and 365-A of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Victim statement

According to a sworn statement by one of the women, she and her Venezuelan friend arrived in Pakistan on June 26, 2026, after being invited by a local business partner whom they had first met in Singapore in October 2025. She said the main suspect claimed to have ties with influential government figures and arranged their visas on the pretext of facilitating meetings with prominent investors for her company.

The woman said they spent three days at a hotel in Islamabad, during which they visited Nathia Gali and attended business presentations, before travelling by road to Lahore on June 29. She alleged that the suspect then took them to a house in Lahore on the pretext of attending a relative’s birthday celebration, but the house was empty. Within about 15 minutes, four armed men carrying firearms and ropes entered, tied their hands and physically assaulted them.

She further alleged that the main suspect initially pretended to be a victim but later it became clear that he was working with the armed men. According to her statement, the captors first demanded $2 million, threatened to kill the women and sell their organs, and later separated them, with one held downstairs under guard and the other kept upstairs.

The complainant said that during the night the main suspect and another man referred to as the boss took her phone and transferred $17,000 in cryptocurrency from her accounts. She said she was repeatedly forced to send desperate voice messages to relatives and friends asking for money, but managed to include the distress code word CARLITOS, prompting her family in Europe to alert international and local law enforcement agencies.

She alleged that on June 30, an armed man wearing a black local suit sexually assaulted her in a bedroom. On July 1, she said, the main suspect drove the two women away while claiming he was taking them to the airport. However, she said she used a hidden mobile phone to track the route and realised he was misleading them while remaining in contact with the boss.

Fearing they were being taken to another location, the women began shouting for the vehicle to stop, according to the statement. She said they escaped after the vehicle slightly hit a car ahead, jumped out and ran to a mechanic’s shop for protection. A local traffic police officer saw them and called for emergency assistance.

The Dutch national stated that the women, traumatised by the ordeal, initially panicked and ran from the first police vehicle that arrived. She said senior police officers later reached the spot along with a female officer, reassured them and showed that police had been tracking the kidnapping case for the previous 48 hours. The women were then taken safely to a police station, where their statements were recorded.

The magistrate sealed the testimony after the victim explicitly confirmed that she had given her statement voluntarily and without coercion, to allow further legal proceedings against the accused.