KARACHI: The case of two children who went missing from the Garden area last week took a new twist on Wednesday when investigators learned that the couple was seen on CCTV footage “kidnapping the boys on a motorbike”. In fact, he was carrying his own. The children were taken to a clinic and that the boys in the video were not the ones missing.
Minor boys Aliyan and Ali Raza went missing while playing outside their homes and have been missing ever since as the police failed to make any meaningful progress in the case.
Authorities had earlier claimed to have obtained a CCTV footage showing a man and a woman carrying children on a motorcycle.
However, DIG South Syed Asad Raza said on Wednesday Dawn Investigators obtained another CCTV footage that showed the couple on a motorcycle actually taking their own children to a clinic and were seen returning with them. The DIG clarified that contrary to initial assumptions based on the first footage, it was not children who had gone missing.
New CCTV footage shows the couple thought they were kidnapping the boys when they were actually taking their children to a clinic. Police and rescue services started a search operation.
After that, the police and rescue services launched a search operation in the garden and surrounding areas to find any further clues about the missing children, the officer added.
Meanwhile, a combing/search operation was launched in Garden Dhobi Ghat and adjoining areas, a city police spokesperson said in a statement. Volunteers of Rescue 1122 and Edhi Foundation also searched the Lyari river while house to house searches were also conducted.
City SSP Arif Aziz also met the families of the missing children and assured them that the children would be recovered soon. He added that some suspects have been detained for investigation.
Protest against the police for failing to arrest the killers of Saram
On Wednesday, parents and local residents protested outside an apartment complex in North Karachi where seven-year-old Mohammad Sarim was abducted, raped and then killed, whose body was found in an underground water tank after he went missing for 11 days. was met by
The grieving family and locals staged a dharna on the main road, disrupting traffic. The parents told the media that they are not satisfied with the police investigation. He said that since the first day of Saram’s disappearance on January 7, no result of the investigation has come out.
He said that the police had detained some suspects, but no concrete result has come out regarding the arrest of the killers. He announced to continue the protest until justice is delivered.
Meanwhile, the police say that the DNA samples of the arrested accused have been taken and sent to the University of Karachi lab.
DIG West Irfan Ali Baloch said that he has formed a special investigation team consisting of one DSP and three police inspectors to solve the case immediately. The team will “make continuous efforts and use all available resources to arrest the accused involved as soon as possible.” He added that the team was directed to submit a progress report on a daily basis.
Published in Dawn, January 23, 2025.
