JHELUM, Pakistan (Reuters) - A five-year-old British boy kidnapped in Pakistan nearly a week ago is alive and police are making progress in the investigation, a police official said on Tuesday.
Sahil Saeed, who is of Pakistani origin, was abducted last Thursday after gunmen barged into his grandmother's house, held the family at gun-point for hours and then left with some valuables and the boy.
"The child is safe. We made some progress and hopefully, we'll sort out this case soon," Khalid Mehmood, police superintendent for investigations in the city of Jhelum, told Reuters.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Sunday that police were closing in on the kidnappers and that the abductors appeared to be close to the boy's family.
Kidnapping is a major problem in Pakistan and many of the crimes go unreported. Police have said Taliban militants use ransoms from kidnappings to fund their insurgency against the U.S.-backed government.
No sign has emerged that the abduction of the boy, who is from the English town of Oldham, was linked to militants.
Police have said the gunmen took away 150,000 rupees (1,169 pounds) and some gold and later demanded a 10 million rupee 978,836 pounds) ransom.
Police said the kidnappers had been tipped off that the boy and his father were planning to fly home to Britain last Thursday after visiting relatives in Pakistan.
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