Lahore police get custody of 4 suspects arrested for alleged abduction, sexual assault of two foreign women

LAHORE: A court on Friday granted police five-day physical remand of four suspects arrested for the alleged abduction and sexual assault of two foreign women. On Thursday, police had booked five suspects on charges of kidnapping for ransom and sexually assaulting two foreign women, who were nationals of the Netherlands and Venezuela. Subsequently, four of them were arrested. According to the FIR, the women were abducted by five suspects, including a close relative of a senior political personality, who demanded ransom and subjected them to sexual assault during their captivity. On Friday, the investigating officer from the Defence C police station produced four of the suspects, with their faces covered with masks, before Judicial Magistrate Azhar Mehmood at the Cantonment Courts. At the outset of the hearing, the magistrate instructed the suspects to remove their masks. A public prosecutor asked the magistrate to grant police 14-day physical remand of the suspects. He said the prime suspect had been identified by the victims. He added that the incident had brought disrepute to Pakistan. The magistrate, however, granted police physical remand of the suspects for five days. The relative of a senior political personality was among the suspects handed over to the police. He also directed the investigating officer to produce the suspects before the court on July 8 upon the completion of their remand. According to the FIR, the suspects had allegedly demanded $1.5 million in ransom before sexually assaulting the foreigners.