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Sahil back with 'overjoyed' family
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Exhausted Sahil Saeed is enjoying his first full day back home since being freed from his two week kidnap ordeal in Pakistan.
The five-year-old arrived back in Oldham, Greater Manchester, with his father Raja Naqqash Saeed on Thursday night to a rapturous reception from relatives.
A home-made banner saying "Welcome Sahil" hung from windows outside the terraced house, with steel barriers surrounding the property to keep back dozens of reporters, photographers and TV crews.
Sahil made a brief appearance after his arrival, hiding his face from waiting media as he was held in his mother Akila Naqqash's arms outside the home.
His aunt Naila Wasseem and great-uncle Mushtaq Raja said the family was "overjoyed" to have him back. Relatives dashed in and out of the house, bringing food in big steel pans for the celebrations.
Ms Wasseem said: "We are ecstatic, everybody is over the moon. Everybody, for 13 days, all we have done is non-stop praying. Now the mood's totally changed."
Sahil's great-uncle added: "They (Sahil's parents) wanted to cry - when you are so happy, you had lost your son, then he appears before your eyes - you can't imagine how emotional it is. The boy is very tired."
The schoolboy was snatched on March 4 by gunmen during a holiday in Pakistan with his father and other relatives.
An international police operation was launched and Mr Saeed went to Paris, at the kidnappers' request, to hand over a £110,000 ransom to secure his son's release. The boy was freed on Tuesday, and found wandering in a field.
Three people - two Pakistani men and a Romanian woman - were arrested in Spain after police followed two of them from the French capital. All three appeared in court in Spain on Thursday where they were remanded in custody charged with kidnapping a minor.
Reader views (1)
So happy this child is home safe with his family and well done that community and family members for whipping round and coming up with the ransom money, and lest we forget the Manchester police and Pakistani police force for making this a happy ending for all concerned.
- Annie, croydon, 18/03/2010 18:20
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