Pakistan kidnap boy found Safe and Well

The family of the five-year-old British boy kidnapped by gunmen in Pakistan were "overjoyed" after he was found safe and well.

Sahil Saeed, who had been in Pakistan on holiday with his father, was snatched from a house in the Punjab region of the country on March 4 after robbers held his relatives hostage at gunpoint.

Sahil's mother, Akila Naqqash, who had begged for his release, has now spoken to her son and is waiting for him to return to his home in Oldham, Greater Manchester.

A police liaison officer at the family home said: "They are overjoyed. For 12 or 13 days, waiting, building hopes up and then hopes going down. She is overjoyed. It is really happy, just really happy.

"They were made aware he had been found safe and well. Mother has spoken on the telephone and spoke to him for some time, a private conversation. He is safe and well. But the family do not want to say anything, they want to wait until he comes back."

Sahil is understood to still be in Pakistan and his return is being organised by the British High Commission in Islamabad.

A spokesman confirmed that the boy had been located safe and well.

Adam Thomson, the British High Commissioner in Islamabad, said: "This is fantastic news. It brings to an end the traumatic ordeal faced by Sahil Saeed's family.

"I would like to praise the high level of co-operation between the UK and Pakistani authorities and in particular I would like to thank the Jhelum police for their role in bringing about the safe return of Sahil."

Police official Ijaz Ahmed said Sahil was found early on Tuesday in the town of Dinga in Punjab province, some 20 miles from his relatives' house in Jhelum where he was kidnapped.