Local sources in Mazar-e-Sharif, capital of the northern Balkh province, confirmed to KabulNow that an elderly man was kidnapped on Friday. His relatives said he was allegedly abducted for the money which he got after selling his house in recent days.
The abducted man was identified as Abdul Rauf Ghafoori.
Relatives of the abductee said that they have informed the Taliban police about his abduction but still there is no clue of his whereabouts or of the abductors.
A source from the Taliban who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed that the elderly man was kidnapped, adding that the Taliban forces have already started their joint efforts to release Abdul Rauf from the hands of his kidnappers.
In the meantime, the Taliban’s interior ministry has said that the group’s security forces have freed a trader who had been kidnapped nearly a month earlier in Mazar-e-Sharif.
The kidnappers had asked for $300,000 in return for his release, the Taliban’s ministry added
As in other provinces, Balkh has also seen a rise in cases of kidnapping for ransom ever since the Taliban recaptured Afghanistan in August 2021.
Spokesperson for the Taliban’s police in Balkh, Mohammad Asif Waziri, claimed on Saturday that the Taliban forces managed to release a total of 24 people who were kidnapped over the past one year in the province.
