Lahore police yet to recover protection money in foreign women's kidnap case

A Lahore court on Monday allowed the Defence C police to keep four suspects in custody for another four days to continue investigating the alleged kidnapping and rape of two foreign women.

The suspects, one of whom is reportedly related to a senior political leader, were produced before Judicial Magistrate Azhar Mehmood after completing their earlier physical remand.

Seeking more time, the investigating officer informed the court that investigators had seized the suspects' mobile phones and the vehicle allegedly used in the incident. He said that police were still trying to recover money believed to be connected to the case and needed additional time to complete the investigation.

The case was registered earlier this month after two women from the Netherlands and Venezuela were recovered. Police nominated five men in the FIR and arrested four of them.

The counsel for three of the suspects opposed the request for further remand. He argued that the investigation had made little progress despite the previous remand and questioned why police had sought more custody.

The defence also maintained that the complainants had identified only four suspects and alleged that investigators had unnecessarily implicated others. Counsel further pointed out that no identification parade had been conducted and argued that the investigation should have been handled by a female police officer. He requested the court to discharge the three accused he represented.

After hearing both sides, the magistrate accepted the prosecution's request and extended the physical remand of all four suspects by another four days.