Three people have been arrested in Spain over the kidnap of five-year-old British boy Shail Saeed in Pakistan.
Two Pakistani brothers and a Romanian woman were held by police at an address in the Mediterranean city of Tarragona, 60 miles from Barcelona.
Police are said to have discovered a large part of the money at the flat they shared in the city.
The international hunt for the kidnappers had turned to Spain after it was claimed that Sahil’s father Raja handed over the £100,000 ransom to end his son’s 13-day ordeal.
Two of those who have been arrested are believed to work in the local justice department, according to local paper Diario de Tarragona.
The three suspects are expected to appear in court later this week
The Pakistanis and a Romanian woman arrested – girlfriend of one of the brothers – had been living in the flat for around a year.
Sahil, from Oldham, was found yesterday wandering shoeless and with his head shaved after being released by his captors almost two weeks after he vanished.
The five-year-old has spent today playing at a ‘safe location’ following his ordeal.
The arrests, led by a specialist police team based in Madrid with the help of officers based in Barcelona and Tarragona, took place at lunchtime today.
Local press reports said they followed the pick-up of a ransom payment for Sahil’s release in an unnamed European city.
A police spokesman in Tarragona said: ‘I can confirm two Pakistani men and a Romanian woman have been arrested in connection with the kidnap of Sahil Saeed.
‘They were detained at a flat in the city. A large amount of money, thousands of euros, was found at the property during a subsequent search.
‘The alleged involvement of these people in the kidnap is still being investigated but my understanding is they are suspected of going to pick up ransom money paid for Sahil Saeed’s release.’
The boy’s great-uncle confirmed his father, Raja Naqqash Saeed, will be arriving in Pakistan tomorrow to take his son home.
‘He is coming tomorrow to be reunited with Sahil,’ he said.
It is not known where the father currently is or where he will be flying from.
Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah yesterday confirmed an international gang had demanded that the money was paid outside Pakistan.
It is Foreign Office policy never to pay ransoms to kidnappers and it advises relatives against doing so.
But Rana Sanaullah, Punjab law minister, confirmed in an interview with AP Television News: ‘An international gang was involved in it and it was demanding the ransom outside Pakistan in a European country.
‘A ransom has been paid. We are trying to bust this gang with the help of other countries.’
And when Greater Manchester Police assistant chief constable Dave Thompson was asked why Sahil’s father came back to Britain he said: ‘The reason was very much about the release of his child.’
Saeed is now at the British High Commission in the heavily fortified diplomatic enclave in Islamabad.
Anyone wishing to visit the building is vetted before hand, must have a prior appointment and is searched by armed officers.
News of the first arrests comes as friends of the family said a substantial sum was raised by Sahil’s family who had to sell prized possessions to gather the cash for the ransom.
Mrs Naqqash, a supermarket worker, said her sister-in-law burst into her bedroom at 4.20am to break the news.
‘I thought it was a dream. I am over the moon. I couldn’t believe it. We are overjoyed. The past few weeks have been really hard.
‘I couldn’t see his face, I just had to turn the TV off because of all the false information.
‘He was going on and on and on about his toys and his sisters and everything – a normal little boy. It was amazing.’
Of the ransom, she said: ‘We don’t have that kind of money lying around.’
Sister-in-law Amrana Istikhar, 33, said: ‘All we have been doing is praying until he gets here, we will carry on praying.’
Adam Thompson, the British High Commissioner in Islamabad, said: ‘It brings to an end the traumatic ordeal faced by Sahil Saeed’s family.’
Sahil had travelled to Pakistan with his father Raja, 28, to visit family in the town of Jhelum in Punjab.
They were preparing to fly back to Britain on March 3 when gunmen struck at his grandmother’s house.
Mr Saeed said he and other family members were beaten and tortured for six hours by a gang armed with guns and grenades. The raiders took jewellery and money and fled with the boy before demanding £100,000 in a telephone call.
Reports immediately after the kidnapping suggested Sahil may have been abducted by a family member.
There were also reports that Mr Saeed and Mrs Naqqash, who are married with two other children, Anisha, four, and Hafsah, 21 months, split up last year.
It was claimed that Mr Saeed had taken Sahil out of school to travel to Punjab after a domestic row.
The boy had an emotional phone call with his mother, Akila Naqqash, shortly after he was released yesterday.
Speaking from her home in Oldham, Mrs Naqqash, 31, said: ‘I am really happy and lost for words. The first thing he said was “Mummy, Mummy I’ve bought some new toys”.
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andrei is right…. , the woman is definetly a gipsy
i bet she wasnt romanian she could be 100% a dirty gipsy !