Sara Sharif's father and two others wanted in global manhunt are always one step ahead, Pakistani police complain
28 August 2023, 20:46 | Updated: 8 September 2023, 14:53
Sara Sharif's father and two others detectives are hunting for over the 10-year-old's death are constantly one step ahead of the law, Pakistani police have complained.
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The girl was found dead at a home in Woking earlier in August after suffering a number of injuries over a long period of time.
Surrey Police found her body after being called by Urfan Sharif, her 41-year-old father, when he touched down in Islamabad after leaving the UK.
He and his wife, Beinash Batool, 29, and brother Faisal Malik, 28, are wanted by police for questioning. They fled on August 9, the day before her body was discovered.
A global manhunt is under way, with Interpol and Pakistan's Federal Investigation Authority trying to track them down.
But police in the Asian country have now complained the trio are moving before officers can get to them because they are closely following media reports.
"We are trying our best to arrest Urfan, Beinash and Faisal soon. They keep changing the locations," inspector Malik Nisar, of Domeli Police Station in Jhelum, northern Punjab, said.
Sardar Nisar Ahmed Khan, a spokesman for the Regional Police Office Rawalpindi, told The Telegraph: "The media is reporting minute by minute and I think they are changing the location through media reporting and they are monitoring the news to avoid the arrest. Police initiated several raids but got no breakthrough yet.
Read more: Handwritten note names killer of Sara Sharif, ten-year-old girl found dead at home in Woking
"This case is a challenge for us and we want to unburden ourselves by arresting them soon."
Last week, police raided properties throughout Jhelum as they looked for relatives of Sharif in the hope they could direct them to where the three are hiding but the trio continue to elude them.
Although there is no extradition treaty between the UK and Pakistan, the government there is not expected to get in the way of them being sent back.
Reiterating the police appeal to help their investigation, the Surrey and Sussex Police Major Crime Team's Detective Superintendent Mark Chapman said: "We would like to thank those people who have already come forward and reported information to us.
"However, we know that there will be lots of people in the Woking community and beyond who will have had contact with Sara who may not already have come forward, and we would encourage them to do so.
"Any information is better than no information – although you might think it's insignificant, it might be vital to the investigation and in helping us to bring justice for Sara."
