Married couple 'masterminded kidnap of British boy, five, and held him for 13 days as they demanded £100,000 ransom

A married couple living in Spain masterminded the kidnap of a British boy by an armed gang in Pakistan, a court heard today.
Four masked men wielding assault rifles and hand grenades seized Sahil Saeed, five, while he was visiting his grandmother’s home in Punjab, prosecutors said.
Muhammed Zahid Saleem and his wife Monica Neruja 'planned and organised' the brutal crime from their home in north east Spain, the court was told.

Accused: Pakistani brothers Muhammed Sageiz (centre) and Muhammed Saleem (right) along with Romanian Monica Neruja, hide their faces in court in Tarragona, Spain, during the opening of the kidnapping trial today

But they were arrested by armed officers along with their friend Muhammed Sageiz following a dramatic police operation spanning four countries.

The couple travelled to Paris where they collected a ransom from the boy’s family, unaware they were being watched by undercover detectives, it was said.
They were followed all the way to their home on Spain’s Costa Dorada, where they were held in a police swoop after Sahil, from Oldham, had been released unharmed following a 13-day ordeal as a prisoner.

Ordeal: Sahil Saeed, then five-years-old, was kidnapped and held for 13 days before being ransomed back to his family for £110,000

The three defendants went on trial today at the Provincial Court in Tarragona accused of kidnap, belonging to a criminal organisation, robbery and illegal detention.
Four armed police officers stood guard inside the court room as prosecutor Maria Jose Osuna told the court: 'Along with four people of Pakistani origin they planned, organised and carried out the kidnap of a British minor, taking advantage of the fact he had travelled with his father to Pakistan to visit the boy’s grandmother Tasneem Saeed.
'The whole operation was led by the accused Muhammad Zahid Saleem who had travelled to (Pakistan) at the end of 2009 and in February 2010 for that purpose.'
The court heard a gang of four masked men swooped on the house in Jhelum on the night of 3 March 2010, as Sahil’s family were preparing to return to the UK.
They allegedly beat the family, gagged them and tied their hands and legs, pointed a pistol at Sahil’s father Raja Saeed, 28, and told him:
'We know you are a businessman and you and your family have a business in the United Kingdom.
'We are taking your son. If you try to contact the police or involve them, we will kill him.'
The gang stole 1,900 rupees, jewellery and two mobile phones belonging to the family, fleeing with the boy in the early hours of 4 March.
Later that day the family received a call from a phonebox in the Spanish town of Constanti, 60 miles south west of Barcelona, demanding money for the safe return of the boy.
Over the next few days they received 15 calls from phone boxes around north east Spain, the court heard.

Reunited: Sahil, who was found shoeless and with his head shaved, is pictured back home in Oldham with his mother Akila and father Raja

On 10 March Monica Neruja called Sahil’s dad and ordered him to travel to Paris to hand over a ransom of £100,000, it was claimed.
The court heard Sahil’s uncle Tauseer Ahmed travelled to the French capital where he followed instructions to leave two bags containing the ransom money under a tree in a park.
The prosecutor said Neruja then collected the cash and met up with her husband at the Hotel Orleans in the French capital.
She said: 'After going shopping and visiting some relatives they drove their Peugeot 406 with the money to Spain, crossing the border at La Jonquera at 9.30am on 15 March.'

Sahil was snatched from his grandmother's home here in Jhelum, Pakistan, in March 2010

The couple then drove to their flat in Constanti where they met up with the third accused, an illegal immigrant who was living with them at the time, it was said.
Balding Muhammed Sageiz had been in constant contact with the couple and was in charge of informing the gang in Pakistan if anything went wrong with the handover of the money, it was alleged.
Sahil was finally released in the early hours of 16 March and was found by locals wandering alone in a field.
When he was safe, armed police from Spain’s elite Special Operations Group stormed the flat in Spain where the three suspects were holed up.
Detectives found a suitcase containing 101,710 pounds and a machine that detects forged notes, it was said.

Celebration: Friends, family and even police officers share sweets handed out outside Sahil's home in Oldham after he was found safe and well

Neruja, a pretty 26-year-old law graduate from the city of Galati in Romania, and her husband, 36, both worked as translators in the same court where they are being tried.
They married in Romania in November 2009.
Saleem, who had previously run an estate agent, told the court he played no part in the kidnap plot but admitted travelling to France to collect money.
He said he moved to Spain in his mid teens and dislikes his native country of Pakistan.
He told the court he had been instructed by an uncle in Pakistan to travel to Paris to pick up some money, but denied knowing where the money had come from.
He said: 'I knew nothing about this (plot) whatsoever. I had nothing to do with this. I was very happy with my job and my wife. We were very happy in Spain.'
Prosecutors have called for the three defendants to be jailed for up to 25 years. A panel of three judges led by Jose Manuel Sanchez Siscart will rule on whether or not they are guilty.
All three deny all charges and the trial continues.