Child repatriated from Saudi Arabia after her mother’s arrest

PESHAWAR: A four-year-old girl from Swat has been repatriated from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia after her mother was arrested allegedly for drug smuggling in May, last year, sources said.

Rani Bibi, the mother of the child, Eman, had gone to perform Umrah through a flight from the Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar in May 2019. She had taken along Eman.

According to sources, Rani Bibi was arrested at the Jeddah Airport after heroin-filled capsules were recovered from her abdomen.

The woman was sent to a jail near Jeddah while Eman was shifted to the Social Protection Department.

The sources said the case is still under process and Rani Bibi is facing punishment under the relevant law.

They said as a result of the meetings with the local authorities, Eman was taken into custody by the Welfare Wing of the Pakistani Consulate, recently.

She was taken to jail on Tuesday to have the last meeting with her mother. Later, a Pakistani Embassy representative, Noor Said, took her to Peshawar from Jeddah through a PIA flight.

The minor girl was supposed to be received by her uncle at the airport in Peshawar but he did not turn up there. An Overseas Pakistani Foundation official Sarbuland received her. He let her go with Noor Said of Peshawar who is an employee at the Pakistani Embassy and had accompanied her from Jaddah.