Four held for kidnapping children

Police Monday claimed to have busted a gang of child lifters with the arrest of four persons from Mumbra in Thane district of Maharashtra.

Police suspect that the accused had kidnapped at least 8 to 10 children from various localities and sold them over the last few months.

The gang was exposed after police traced two-year-old Ahmed Jamal Ahmed Shah, a resident of Dahisar in Mumbai, to a house in Mumbra which belonged to one of the accused, a police official said.

Shah went missing from his house after his mother stepped out to fill water on March 31.

Police Monday picked up Afrin Khan, 20, Muniba Shah, 40, Azim Divekar, 49 and his wife Amira Divekar, 46, the official said.

He said Khan had allegedly kidnapped the boy from Dahisar and hid him in the residence of the Divekars in Mumbra.

A case has been registered at the Shil-Daighar police station under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Police suspect that Khan had kidnapped at least 8 to 10 children from various locations and sold them at different places with the help of the three other accused, the official said.

Police are now trying to trace the persons to whom the children were allegedly sold to.