Sahil Saeed: three arrests in Spain, ransom recovered

Spanish police have arrested three people in connection with the kidnapping of Sahil Saeed, the five-year-old British boy who was found yesterday wandering alone in a Pakistani field after two weeks in captivity.

Diario de Tarragona reports that two Pakistani citizens and a Romanian were detained yesterday in Constanti, a town not far from Barcelona.

Rumours had been circulating that a ransom was paid to secure the release of Saeed, who was kidnapped from his grandmother's home in the Pakistani city of Jhelum during a violent robbery.

Rana Sanaullah, the law minister of Punjab, yesterday admitted a ransom had indeed been paid. He said the money exchange had taken place not in Britain but in another country.

Today, it seems that third country was Spain. Neighbours of the three people arrested yesterday claim they overheard one policeman say to another that they had probably recovered most of the €86,000 ransom money paid. There is an unconfirmed report that two of those arrested worked for the justice department. ·