6:38am Thursday 18th March 2010
© Press Association 2011
A five-year-old boy freed by kidnappers after his family paid a £110,000 ransom has been reunited with his father.
Sahil Saeed, who was released on Tuesday after being snatched at gunpoint in Pakistan two weeks ago, met up with Raja Naqqash Saeed in Islamabad, sources said.
The pair are now expected to fly back to the UK, where their family are waiting at home in Oldham, Greater Manchester.
Sahil was on holiday with his father and other relatives in Jhelum in the Punjab region when he was snatched by gunmen on March 4. He was found by locals wandering alone in a field around 15 miles away on Tuesday and handed over to police.
The boy has since been looked after by British officials while his father travelled from the UK to meet him.
On Wednesday night dramatic details emerged about the abduction and the police investigation, which involved Pakistani, UK, French and Spanish officers.
Spanish police said Sahil's father went to Paris to pay a £110,000 ransom for his release.
Surveillance officers watched him make the transfer, saw the recipients divide up the cash, and later swooped on a number of suspects, according to a police statement.
After the youngster was freed, three people - two Pakistani men and a Romanian woman - were arrested when police raided a flat in Constanti, around 60 miles from Barcelona. About £105,000 in cash was also recovered. Two of the suspects were followed from Paris, and all three are due to appear in court in Spain. Two other people, accused of helping the kidnappers, were also arrested in the French capital.
A £100,000 ransom demand for Sahil's safe return emerged shortly after the boy was taken. Interpol alerted Spanish authorities to the abduction and discovered the first call demanding a ransom was made from Spain. A series of other calls were made from the country.
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