Afghanistan Times
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AT Monitoring Desk-KABUL: Failure of the relevant authorities to combat rampant abductions in Jawzjan province has irked the residents calling for massive crackdowns against the kidnapping rings.
Scores of Jawzjan residents on Friday said that rampant kidnapping in Sheberghan, the provincial capital, has made their life miserable.
They said that cases of kidnappings increased in the past six months.
“Kidnapping cases have increased. Law is not implemented; it is only implemented on the middle class,” TOLOnews quoted Hamidullah, a resident of Sheberghan city.
Mohammad Nasim, another resident of the provincial capital, told TOLOnews that for the past 20 days his neighbor’s son remains in captivity of the kidnappers. He said the locals were concerned about their safety after surge in abduction cases.
Abdul Salam, a small business owner in Sheberghan, told the news channel that his seven-year old son was abducted two months ago and he paid a USD 40, 000 ransom to release his son.
Civil society activists in the province slammed the provincial and central governments for failure to address the challenge and ensure safety of the residents.
“There are illegal guns, illegal armed men and tented glass vehicles in the city. This reveals security agencies’ weakness in overcoming the problem,” TOLOnews quoted Abdul Qadir Folad, a civil society activist in Jawzjan.
On the other hand, the provincial police claimed that three abduction cases were reported in 2016 and they launched investigation into the cases to bust the kidnapping rings.
The news agency quoted the security chief at Jawzjan Police Headquarters as saying, “We had three abduction cases last year, but due to efforts of security forces and cooperation of the people, we managed to ensure safe release of kidnapped individuals.”
The security chief Colonel Abdul Hafeez Khashi said the police have not identified the kidnapping rings so far. However, he assured that the police would soon bust the rings and send them behind bars.
