British-Pakistani trio wanted over girl’s death on return to UK: police

“We can confirm that the three suspects in the case boarded a flight earlier and are on their way to the UK,” Jhelum police spokesman Mudassar Khan told AFP, adding that they had traveled voluntarily with the knowledge of the authorities.

British police had earlier said Urfan Sharif, 41, his partner Beinash Batool, 29, and his brother Faisal Malik, 28, fled to Pakistan to take refuge with relatives before the girl’s body was found, which sparked an international persecution.

“I confirm that they were not arrested but they left voluntarily,” Raja Haq Nawaz, lawyer for Urfan Sharif’s father, told AFP.

He said the three were on an Emirates flight departing from the Punjabi city of Sialkot.

Earlier this month, Sharif and Batool were featured in a video distributed to the media, in which Batool said they were “ready to cooperate with UK authorities and fight our case in court.”

“All our family members have gone into hiding because everyone fears for their safety,” he said, alleging negligence on the part of the Pakistani police who were chasing them.

In the low-quality two-and-a-half-minute video there was little mention of Sara’s death, which Batool said was an “incident.”

Surrey police said the trio were thought to have flown to Islamabad on August 9, the day before Sara’s body was found.

A man who identified himself as the father made an emergency call early in the morning alerting officers to Sara’s death from Pakistan, detectives said.

Five children between the ages of one and 13 brought to Pakistan with the adults were discovered on Monday in the house of Urfan Sharif’s father.

A magistrate placed the children into state protective services on Tuesday.

The house was otherwise empty and the search continued with Interpol and the British Foreign Office in coordination with the Pakistani authorities.

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