DPO Sahiwal Kashif Aslam said Wednesday that four girls, who had gone missing from Hanjerwal area of Lahore a few days back, had been kidnapped and had not gone on their own, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Addressing a press conference, he said the girls Kinza, Anam, Ayesha and Samreen had been recovered today from a home near Pakpattan Chowk in Sahiwal.

He added that Qasim, the rickshaw driver, had kidnapped them from Lahore and taken them to Sahiwal where he had kept them in a house. “The girls had left their homes after getting annoyed with their parents. They boarded Orange Line Train which took them to Gulshan Ravi. There they telephoned one of their neighbours, Umar, who insisted that they must go back to their homes. But when they refused, Umar left them there and headed home,” the DPO explained.

He further said the girls then kept going from one place to another within the city before they met Qasim, the rickshaw driver, who lured them and took them to his friend Shahzad’s home. “Next day both Shahzad and Qasim took the girls to Sahiwal where they sold them to a prostitutes’ den,” DPO Aslam disclosed.

“It has emerged that Qasim, who is a resident of Sahiwal and works in Lahore, has connections with criminals,” the DPO said, and added, “Besides Qasim, police also arrested his accomplices Shahzad Naeem, Asif, Shaukat Ali, Shazia and Zeenat Bibi.”

He further said that so far police had not found any bruise or a mark on the girls’ bodies that could suggest they were either tortured or were sexually assaulted.

He told the media that the girls had refused to go to their homes.