Body of abducted Islamabad youth recovered from Mardan; key suspect held

• Victim abducted at gunpoint outside Islamabad residence.
• Main suspect, female accomplice arrested from Swat.
• Police recover the vehicle used in kidnapping incident.

ISLAMABAD: The body of a young man abducted from Islamabad’s F-6 area has been recovered from Mardan, police said on Tuesday, adding that the victim appeared to have been subjected to torture.

According to police, the body was shifted to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), where a post-mortem examination is scheduled to be conducted.

The deceased was identified by his family as 30-year-old Farrukh Afzal. His family claimed that he was abducted in front of his father, adding that the kidnappers opened fire when they attempted to resist.

Speaking to Geo News, a relative of the victim said that when Afzal arrived home late at night at around 12:04am and was getting out of his car, right at that time, three people tried to kidnap him.

“A neighbour called [police], and his parents came out of their house after hearing his screams, but the armed kidnappers took him away,” he said, claiming that the boy could have been saved if the police had taken action at the time and placed blockades.

“However, no action was taken, which is why such an incident took place in the safe city of Islamabad, especially in a place like F-6/1, which is near the Red Zone,” he said, raising the question of how armed people can abduct a boy in Islamabad and kill him in Mardan.

Meanwhile, the police said, the abduction took place when the victim was returning home and opening the gate of his house in Islamabad’s F-6/1 area, where four armed men forcibly took him away in a vehicle after firing shots.

A first information report (FIR) was registered at Kohsar police station on the complaint of the victim’s father.

According to the FIR, the complainant rushed outside after hearing noise around midnight and saw four to five unidentified individuals abducting his son. When he and his neighbours tried to intervene, the suspects opened fire and fled with the victim.

Police said that the main suspect, along with a woman accomplice, was arrested in Swat, while the vehicle used in the kidnapping has also been recovered.

Authorities said investigations are ongoing from multiple angles, and efforts are underway to trace other suspects involved in the incident.