Spanish court hears details of ransom paid for kidnapped boy

Muhammad Zahid Saleem, the alleged mastermind behind the kidnapping, and his wife Gianina Monica Neruja have gone trial with flatmate Muhammad Sageiz at the provincial court in Tarragona, on Spain’s north eastern coast.

The two Pakistani men and Neruja, from Romania, who lived in Tarragona before their arrest, deny charges of kidnap of a minor, conspiracy, robbery in conjunction with a crime of trespassing and eight charges of unlawful arrest in connection with Sahil’s 13-day ordeal.

The Oldham youngster was snatched by an armed gang at his grandmother’s home during a holiday with his father in Jhelum, in Pakistan’s Punjab province, on March 3 2010.

After a ransom of £110,000 was collected by Saleem and Neruja in Paris, the boy was taken to a school in Pakistan during the early hours of March 16, left alone and then wandered into a field where he was found by locals.

Maria Jose Osuna, prosecuting, told the court yesterday: “Together with at least four other people of Pakistani origin, Muhammad Zahid Saleem, Gianina Monica Neruja and Muhammad Sageiz designed, organised and carried out the kidnapping of the British minor Sahil Saeed.

“The whole operation was directed by the defendant Muhammad Zahid Saleem, who had gone to his country at the end of 2009 and in February for that purpose.”

Saleem, Neruja and Sageiz have been in custody awaiting trial since March 16, 2010.

The court heard the kidnappers struck as Sahil and his father Raja Saeed were saying farewell to their family before taking a taxi to the airport to return to Manchester.

Four masked men carrying assault rifles and hand grenades gagged and beat Sahil’s family – including his grandmother, uncle, aunt and young cousin – “without distinction of age”.

Ms Osuna said: “At one point they turned to Mr Raja Saeed and said they knew he was a businessman and they knew he and his father had a business in the United Kingdom. They said, ‘You are going to pay us £100,000, we are taking your son with us now’.

“They pointed a gun in his face and, when he told them they were making a mistake, they pounced on him, filled his mouth with cloth and tied it behind his head, telling him, ‘If you try to contact the police or involve them we will kill him (Sahil)’.”

The assailants made off with Sahil in the taxi which was supposed to take him and his father to the airport, also stealing 1,900 rupees, two telephones belonging to Mr Saeed, a laptop, two watches and a gun.

Several days of frantic phone exchanges, instructions and threats followed.

On March 6, Raja Saeed received another call from Spain and was told the gang knew he had contacted the police and this would be “detrimental” to his son. He was told the ransom had gone up to £200,000 because of the police contact, although the amount was later settled at £110,000.

Mr Saeed was instructed to return to the UK and warned the ransom would increase if he did not pay before March 15. If he wanted to speak to his son he would have to pay £100,000 more.

The gang arranged that Mr Saeed’s brother-in-law Tauseer Ahmed would drop off the £110,000 ransom at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.

A day before the drop off, on March 12, Sahil’s family received a call from Pakistan and talked to the youngster.

The next day, Mr Ahmed delivered the money.

One of Saleem’s brothers, Muhammad Nasir, was later arrested in Pakistan in connection with the kidnapping.

The trial continues today.