23-year-old boy kidnapped, allegedly killed by friend for ransom in Karachi

A suspect arrested in the Karachi kidnapping of his 23-year-old friend confessed to the murder, admitting he killed the victim for ransom and threw the body in the Malir River. However, police have yet to recover the victim’s body.

The victim, identified as Mustafa Amir, was abducted on January 6 from Karachi’s Khayaban-e-Muhafiz area by a drug dealer named Armaghan, who was also a friend of Mustafa. Armaghan later admitted to police that he had killed the victim three days ago.

A kidnapping case was registered at the Darakhshan police station.

Police recovered Armaghan’s mobile phone and car but have so far failed to locate Mustafa’s body.

Mustafa’s parents accused Karachi police of conducting a negligent investigation and failing to take timely action against the accused to extract a confession. 

According to SSP Anil Haider of the Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC), the kidnapped youth was killed during a dispute among international drug dealers. Based on the suspect’s identification, police conducted raids at two locations in Malir.

Three days ago, during an AVCC raid on a bungalow in Karachi’s Defence Khayaban-e-Momin area, suspects opened fire on law enforcement officers.

The police had raided the bungalow in an attempt to rescue Mustafa.

On February 8, another raid was conducted at a bungalow in Defence Phase 5 to recover the abducted victim. During the operation, two officials, including a DSP, were injured.

Following this, police arrested Armaghan and seized a sniper rifle, over 30 laptops, a large cache of weapons, luxury vehicles, thousands of bullets, and drugs.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Mustafa’s mother recounted the family's ordeal. She stated that her son had left home with his car on January 6, but when he did not return, the family began searching for him.

The parents initially approached the Darakhshan police station to file a report, but their complaint was not registered. Police only took action after repeated efforts by the victim’s family.

The grieving mother revealed that four days after Mustafa’s kidnapping, she contacted his friend Armaghan. Upon confronting him, he demanded ransom from a foreign number.

“I reported the ransom demand to the police, but nothing was done. We provided call detail records (CDR), location data, voice notes, and message chats to the police ourselves. Yet, my child has not been found for a month. This is a complete failure of the police,” she said.